The Government has finally conceded its $3 school lunches contract has not worked.
“After an outrageous year of botch-ups, the Government has finally conceded that its cheap school lunches have been a failure,” Labour’s education spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime said.
“Kids were served food that was burned, undercooked, or even contained plastic.
“Schools were forced to reduce their lunch orders by more than 150,000 meals a week because the food simply wasn’t being eaten.
“Teachers and communities repeatedly raised concerns about the loss of quality, nutrition, and the wider benefits for kids but the Government ignored them until now.
“While overseas Christopher Luxon recently praised other countries for introducing school lunch programmes and the benefits they bring, while back home he was slashing funding and undermining one of our most successful social initiatives.
“Those cuts cost local communities their local providers and thousands of jobs.
“If Christopher Luxon is genuinely enthusiastic about school lunches, he should show it here at home. Bring that same energy back to Kiwi kids – and fully reinstate the programme,” Willow-Jean Prime said.
