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- Amid Covid-19 resurgence, lockdowns in Europe, group urges UK education chief to extend free school meals
Amid Covid-19 resurgence, lockdowns in Europe, group urges UK education chief to extend free school meals
The resurgence of Covid-19 in Europe is expected to cause more local lockdowns and the worsening of hunger and poverty among the continent’s most impoverished, including millions of children in the United Kingdom. Amid the October school break and the coming Christmas holidays, these children will likely suffer from starvation as calls for the government to extend free school meals continue to fall on deaf ears.
Amid Covid-19’s resurgence in Europe and the worsening poverty among the youth in the continent, a group of food and health activists, including members of the Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition (GNRTFN), have called on UK’s Education Secretary Gavin Williamson to commit to providing children benefits-related free school meals during the autumn half-term and Christmas holiday periods.
“If your stated opposition to the extension of free school meals during the holidays is that they are normally only provided during term-time, then we would seek to emphasise that 2020 has not been a normal year,” the group, which included GNRTFN members Sustain and Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN), told Williamson in their October 16, 2020 letter.
“With cases of coronavirus once again on the rise, and local lockdowns now being enforced, the situation for many families experiencing food insecurity is worsening. The arrival of autumn and winter also brings increased heating and lighting costs, putting household food budgets under even further pressure,” the group said in the same letter, which was also addressed to Vicky Ford, the parliamentary undersecretary of state for children and families.
The Boris Johnson administration has been receiving flak over its refusal to extend free school meals to half-term and Christmas holiday.
Half-term refers to the weeklong midterm school break in the UK, which mostly falls from October 19 to October 23, or October 26 to October 30.
Recently, Johnson thumbed down England footballer Marcus Rashford’s call to provide UK’s poor children with free school meal vouchers during Christmas and other holidays.
Rashford is also challenging Johnson to honor his election pledge to “level up” the UK by introducing a comprehensive package to end child poverty and hunger.
“What children in the UK need right now is stability. A sustainable framework that protects them from falling through the cracks and that alleviates fear,” the Manchester United player said in a recent statement he sent to Huffington Post.
“Millions of children this morning have woken up petrified and confused. No child in the UK should be waking up hungry, if they have slept at all, and have to face the day worrying where food might be coming from,” added Rashford.
Moreover, Rashford expressed disappointment over Williamson’s reportedly tame response to the footballer’s plea to address child poverty.
“I don’t have the education of a politician. I have no interest in party politics. But I am disappointed by the lack of empathy shown in recent weeks towards protecting our most vulnerable,” Rashford was quoted as saying in news articles after the Education secretary reportedly responded to the footballer through a letter, recognizing the latter’s support to the National Food Strategy relating to food for lower income families, but stopped short of a commitment to backing the footballer’s plea to provide more free school meals and food vouchers.
In their Oct. 16, 2020 letter to Williamson, Sustain, IFAN, and their fellow right to food and health activists pointed out that prior to Covid-19, an estimated 4.2 million children had already bee living in poverty in the UK, which was roughly equivalent to 30 percent of all children in the country.
The figure, they said, was equivalent to nine children in every classroom of 30.
Citing data from the Food Foundation, the group also said that 14 percent of parents and guardians living with children have experienced food insecurity in the last six months. There are four million people living in these affected households including 2.3 million children, according to the group.
READ THE GROUP’S LETTER TO UK EDUCATION SECRETARY GAVIN WILIAMSON HERE.