The government promised free school meals to pupils across the country, but will not say when it will arrive. The National Association for Public Health believes there is a greater need than in a long time.
School pupils in Oslo, Stavanger, Akershus and Buskerud will lose their free meal from next year. Photo: Olav Olsen / Aftenposten
Sea view
Published: 13/12/2023 17:41
– Free and healthy school meals are not a bonus measure for good times, when we can afford a little extra.
Mina Gerhardsen is secretary general of the National Association for Public Health. Now she is disappointed.
When the Støre government started up in the autumn of 2021, they wrote into the platform they govern that they should introduce a free school meal.
After two years, little has happened – not even in the state budget for next year is this a priority.
75,000 lose school meals
While a national scheme is a long time coming, many municipalities and counties have started the introduction on their own initiative.
But next year school meals will disappear in Oslo, Stavanger, Buskerud and Akershus.
The bourgeois election winners would rather spend the money on other things.
In total, this affects at least 75,000 pupils, Aftenposten’s survey shows.
International research has shown that a free school meal can have a positive effect on both health, learning and equalizing social differences. If there will be the same effect in Norway, however, one does not yet know.
The Norwegian Directorate of Health still recommends free school meals. At the same time, they emphasize the need for more research.
The National Association for Public Health also emphasizes that more research is needed. At the same time, they believe that one already knows a lot about what significance it may have. Among other things, they point to:
- Et Norwegian experiment shows that a free school meal increased the children’s intake of healthy food. The effect was greatest among children with a low socio-economic status.
- In Swedish study looked at the relationship between income in adulthood and free school meals. Those who had access to free school meals as children had somewhat higher incomes than those who did not, the survey showed. Here, too, the effect was greatest for those with a low socio-economic status.
Gerhardsen therefore believes that good health habits and knowledge of healthy food are an investment both in children’s upbringing and in the public health of the population over a lifetime.
– It is incredibly disappointing if the government chooses to postpone the promise of a free and healthy school meal for all children, at a time when there is a greater need for this than in a long time, she says.
Mina Gerhardsen Photo: John Trygve Tollefsen
Sea view
– Not surprised
The head of the Food and Nutrition Association in Delta, Arnt Steffensen, is also disappointed, but not surprised. Delta organizes chefs and kitchen staff.
Steffensen believes that although the government spoke warmly about school meals, the promise was vaguely formulated and both the organization and funding unclear.
– We are now seeing the result, he says and points to the fact that several municipalities, which Aftenposten has mentioned, are now ending the school meals scheme.
Steffansen fears that the work on school meals will be set back at least a decade.
– The resourceful students will probably do well. For pupils from families with a low socio-economic status, it gets worse, says Steffansen.
He points out that many are already struggling financially in the animal age.
– Cutting out the school meal adds a stone to a burden that is starting to become quite heavy, and will help to reinforce social inequalities, he fears.
The government will not answer when they will fulfill their school food promise:
– I do not reject that there will not be free school meals, but we have to see in the future what there is financial room for action to implement, said Education Minister Kari Nessa Nortun (Ap) to Aftenposten last week.
2023-12-13 16:41:51
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