Food For Thought, Mr Cameron

Schahrazade Halfaoui cannot stomach the thought of school children going hungry because of government policy.

Shaz hungry children

Every morning, I tune in to LBC to catch up on the latest gossip and to hear what the country has to say on controversial topics. Usually I just have the radio on in the background while I prepare breakfast for my family. But recently there was an item that really caught my attention.

According to a report released by the National Union of Teachers (NUT), large numbers of pupils are coming to school hungry, anxious and unable to focus because of family financial difficulties. Increasingly, teachers and schools are providing food, equipment and clothes for needy pupils – fulfilling their basic needs, when I thought they were there to provide them with an education!

According to the NUT more than 3.5 million children are now living in poverty, with the figure set to rise. But I want to know why this is happening. How is it that basic necessities cannot be met? Who is to blame? I can’t imagine sending my children to school without food or clothes or a good wash. And I’m pretty sure that parents who are sending their children in hungry, are doing it because they simply don’t have a choice – and absolutely not just because they are too lazy to do anything else.

This might be the case in one or two instances, but it cannot account for the large-scale pattern observed by the NUT.

I lay the blame at the feet of the government – yes, I’m talking about you, Mr Cameron and Co. Many parents are forced to take multiple low-pay jobs to make ends meet, which leaves them unable to give the necessary support to their children. A large number of children and their families have become either homeless or at risk of losing their homes, due to the huge cost of housing in the Greater London area which has become unaffordable for many low-income and medium-income families. And if they are forced out of the immediate area, this only creates more strain elsewhere in family life: children have to travel further or keep changing schools.

Sadly, teachers are being left to pick up the pieces of deeply flawed economic and social policies. More and more children are telling teachers that no-one is at home to feed them in the morning or evening – and that’s because parents are out working long hours from dawn until after dark.

A teacher from an East London school, who preferred to remain anonymous, said: “I have seen many cases where children just cannot afford to eat. It breaks my heart to see children so young not being fed or dressed appropriately for the weather. I have stepped in many times to provide food and shoes to those less fortunate. The government must intervene before it gets out of hand.”

The Conservative government says it is committed to working to eliminate child poverty and “improving life chances for children”. It has set aside a budget of £10m to establish breakfast clubs in 1600 schools by September 2017.

Let’s hope they serve up something decent on this one. They must not be allowed to ‘let the market decide’, since this always goes against ordinary families who are just trying to keep themselves together.

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