3.1 million. The number of children that die from malnutrition each year, globally. One thing that the COVID-19 pandemic has made starkly clear is that the current government is clearly at sea as to how to go about this new situation. The messianic trust placed in the current government by a meagre few now risks being eroded with their refusal to fund Free School Meals during half-term holidays. The cavalier fashion in which the parliament has handled the COVID-19 pandemic can be summed up by the Bond movie “Live and Let Die” Because while some continue to live the high life they are accustomed to, more and more children are falling prey to poverty and starvation.
It is now the people who have risen up to the hour, to fulfill responsibilities that ought to lie at Number 10. Case in point being Marcus Rashford, who has seen his heroic free school meals campaign grow in popularity. Some councils have, however, in a very uncharacteristic and Un-Conservative way, managed to help the kids with families that cannot help themselves. For example, Conservative-led Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council said it would be providing food parcels for families from Monday, saying: “No child should go hungry.”
Other councils to sacrilegiously back this initiative include Birmingham City and Liverpool, pledging between £800,000 and £1 million, and £300,000 of funding respectively. In addition, Sutton Council has launched a food support package for those families most in need. Whilst it only covers the “most vulnerable,” an effort has been made, which is more than can be said for the government in power.
High View Primary School in Sutton has reached out to its community, offering to help out with term time and holiday meals. This will not only provide for the most vulnerable, as being supported by Sutton Council but provides aid for children of those who have lost jobs as a result of this precarious Coronavirus situation, offering a more pragmatic, inclusive approach. High View does this at a risk; as any outlay will come out of their own earmarked budget, which is stretched in the normal course of school administration. This on a fundamental level is astounding; the government refuses to fund the good work that schools and other members of the community are attempting to do on their behalf. In this novel situation, Mr. Robert Claxton, Highview Headteacher, remarked “Schools have never been asked to provide holiday lunches without additional funding.”
Through various mediums such as Marcus Rashford’s petition, which recently hit 1 million signatures, the people have spoken and made a decision: that all children deserve the unreserved right to eat.
