Britain: An epidemic of hunger in the country’s schools – even students eat erasers until you fill them up – Newsbomb – News

Managers of food aid and charities They say they are struggling to deal with the increasing demand from families who are unable to adequately feed their children. Children are so hungry that they are eating … rubber or hiding in the playground because they can’t afford lunch, according to reports from school principals across England.

School principals say the government is abandoning schools in the face of a growing crisis, a message reinforced by New research on food poverty In Schools, it is due to be published next month by Chefs in Schools, a healthy eating charity that trains chefs for school kitchens.

It reveals that many schools in England are already looking into one A ‘tragic’ increase in hungry childrenEven before winter, high energy bills are forcing more families to choose between turning on the heating and buying food.

A school in Lewisham, southeast London, told the charity about a child who “was pretending to be He was eating from an empty lunch box. Because they weren’t eligible for free school meals and he didn’t want his friends to know there was no food in the house.

Food aid groups also told the Observer this week that they are struggling to deal with rising demand from families unable to feed their children. “We hear about kids so hungry that they eat erasers at school,” said Naomi Duncan, CEO of School Chefs. “The kids come in without having eaten anything since lunch the day before. The government has to do something.”

In England, all students are entitled to free school meals from the start of school until the second year. However, on top of that, only children whose parents earn less than £7,400 a year are eligible and 800,000 children are neglected living in poverty According to the Child Poverty Working Group. Concerns about widespread child hunger prompt calls for free and inclusive school meals in the UK

Many of the schools that Duncan’s charity works with are raiding already strained budgets to feed hungry children who don’t meet the needs. Free school meal terms. “It is very heartbreaking for our chefs. They are actively going out and finding the children hiding in the playground because they don’t think they can get a meal and feed them,” said the head of the organization.

Research reveals that teachers buy toasters so they can serve rudimentary breakfasts to children who are too hungry to concentrate. Paul Gosling President of the National Association of School Administrators AssociationHe said, “The government knows that when children come in the morning hungry and cold, the schools will step in and help. But it is not right to leave it to us without additional support.”

Oxford Mutual Aid, a community group that delivers emergency food parcels, has had to cut delivery days because hundreds of volunteers, drivers and organizers cannot handle the an increase in requests for assistance, Which includes regular referrals from primary schools.

“People are talking about a crisis coming,” said Craig Johnson, founder of Launch Foods, a Glasgow-based charity that provides free meals to 300 schoolchildren a day. There is already a crisis. I get very frustrated when I tell people we can’t help them,” he said. “No child in England, Wales, Scotland or Ireland should go hungry. This is just a mistake.”