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Hungry kids need food in schools
12 November 2013
Immediate Release
Hungry kids need food in schools
About 100 children will be fed breakfast in front of Parliament House tomorrow (Wednesday morning), as Mana promotes the first reading of its Feed the Kids Bill, supported by more than 25 organisations including NZEI Te Riu Roa.
Teachers in low decile schools constantly see the low attendance, poor concentration and educational under-achievement caused by hunger, so NZEI President Judith Nowotarski said it made sense to support the bill.
“It will cost $100 million a year to provide nutritional breakfast and lunch to students in decile one and two schools, but the benefits to health, education and employment down the track will far exceed the cost,” she said.
“It is estimated that 270,000 of our tamariki live in poverty, which is simply unacceptable in a wealthy country like New Zealand. What sort of society would we be if we have the means to feed children who are hungry through no fault of their own, but refuse to do so?”
ENDS
NZEI Te Riu Roa
New Zealand Educational Institute
NZEI Te Riu Roa members work in every community in New Zealand, leading and advocating for quality public education.
We are the 50,000 principals, teachers and support staff who work in primary, area and secondary schools as well as early childhood centres, special education and school advisory services. We come together as NZEI Te Riu Roa - New Zealand's largest education union, a Treaty based organisation and a powerful advocate for quality public education.
We have the most important job in New Zealand - educating for the future.
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