A Caring Society Does Not Neglect Its Children

The sharing of meals is an important way in which belonging and kotahitanga are expressed – the social nature of food cannot be overlooked. Indeed, within our own traditions we find the importance of breaking bread and feeding those who are in need.

What we know:

We know that benefit levels are not enough to maintain a dignified standard of living – but in fact neither are our lowest incomes. The majority of those receiving welfare payments are barely making it week-to-week, while those on minimum wage are struggling almost as much. Community organisations do as much as they can to assist in these spaces but without significant government intervention, this results in kids living in extreme material deprivation.

 Increasingly, children are attending our schools hungry, undernourished or not attending at all. The Ka Ora Ka Ako programme was designed to combat this and, by all assessments, it was doing so. It catered to regional and individual differences in food preference and incentivised school attendance while taking the shame away from having to ask for help in feeding tamariki.

Our government has committed to increasing school attendance by punishing the parents of tamariki who do not attend; they’re also promising to raise academic performance through a reimagining of the curriculum. They have simultaneously slashed the funding of school lunches.

We argue that without proper nutrition, these efforts will at best only benefit children from privileged backgrounds and at worst will push whānau further into poverty without improving attendance or achievement. Methodist Alliance members provide a range of food support for whānau alongside other community organisations but this cannot replace the immediate nutrition provided by consistent, healthy school lunches.

What does hunger look like in our schools?

Evidence from the Public Health Communication Centre Aotearoa shows some remarkable impacts of hunger on school achievement. This data was taken before funding was cut.

1. Māori children who go hungry are between 1 to 3 years behind their peers in terms of academic achievement.

2. Kiwi children (years 5 and 9) who consistently arrive at school hungry achieve between 43-49 points less than their peers on an international maths and science scale.

3. Over 80% of primary school students reported feeling hungry when they arrive at school.

What does this mean for our future?

On the surface this is incredibly distressing. What is even more distressing is that this doesn’t just impact the schooling of these tamariki and rangatahi, it’s a predictor for many young people’s entire lives!

There will always be differences in achievement but malnourished and hungry children are less likely to have fulfilling lives or grow up to be contributing members of society. Lower academic achievement is associated with:

1.       Incarceration.

2.       Unemployment.

3.       Lower life satisfaction.

4.       Poorer parenting skills.

We know that this is more likely to impact the most disadvantaged in our society - especially Māori and Pacific people - meaning that the negative trends we see across the board will continue until the appropriate support is provided.

What can we do?

Small actions can make a huge difference; donating to food banks and supporting the work of community organisations are important – but with the cost of living it can be hard to justify these extra expenses.

The most important thing we can do is to actively change our communities so that children aren’t put in these positions and that when they are, they have access to the support they need to break the cycle. A caring society does not let tamariki go hungry, and a caring government should ensure that they don’t.