Teachers 'buy food for poor pupils'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Children are skipping school dinners because their parents can no longer afford to buy them. Two out of three teachers say they have had to either give their pupils food or buy them a meal to stop them going hungry, according to a survey from the Children's Society.
One in four pupils entitled to free school meals are shunning them because they are too embarrassed to admit to being poor, it found. The survey, conducted in conjunction with the Association of Teachers and Lecturers and National Union of Teachers, recommended that all schools should use swipe cards – cashless transactions – to combat stigmatisation. Currently only around half do.
The report's authors want eligibility for free school meals widened, as at present around 700,000 families below the poverty line are exempt. It cited cases where pupils were spotted stealing toast because they were hungry, as well as one case where two girls were found sharing a packed lunch in the school toilets because only one of them had enough money to buy food.
It also pointed to anecdotal evidence that some of the Government's academies and free schools are reducing the quality of school dinners after being exempted from national minimum nutritional standards by Education Secretary Michael Gove. Staff and students in one unnamed school said they had stopped buying dinners because the standard was "awful".
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments