Pupils ‘shocked’ by poverty

Nayland College’s annual food drive has raised questions about child poverty in the area.

Teacher Rebecca Baird said the annual food drive, which collected 400 items of food for Nelson food bank – pasta, rice, baking, cereal and tinned food – had raised questions about how children living in poverty in Nelson received help.

The school project looked at worldwide poverty, before bring- ing it closer to home.

‘‘We started looking at New Zealand and they were shocked about the number of children living below the poverty line, they were quite shocked.

‘‘We had questions from kids about how to access food because we know it’s our own community suffering from this,’’ Miss Baird said.

An estimated 200,000 Kiwi children live below the poverty line in New Zealand.

The co-author of a Child Action Poverty Group report, Claire Dale, defines poverty in New Zealand as not having enough money to go to the doctor, unable to fill up the car or not able to pay for groceries or appropriate clothing.

Prime Minister John Key has often spoken of the country’s growing underclass and several reports and surveys show poverty is a growing problem in the country.