A majority of students in the country rely on the free low-cost meals provided by the schools. With the country’s income inequality problem, the meals provided to the students are a staple for many. On a normal day in school, the National School Lunch Program caters to low-cost free lunches worth 19.7 million (Abad-Santos, 2020). With the record-breaking unemployment rise, the free option becomes more important. In NYC, the Department of Education offers free meals to students in public schools; these are after-school meals, breakfast, and lunch (Levine, 2018). In situations when schools are ordered closed either by the chancellor or governor or in cases when remote learning is used, the option of free food by the Department of Education does not stand. In the recent past, the situation went from bad to worse with the shutting down of schools due to the coronavirus. This is a problem that students in public learning institutions face.
Countries like Sweden and Finland are among the countries that have successfully implemented programs to provide free meals to public school students; in India, it was noted that free meals are related to increased school attendance (Poppendieck, 2017). Providing low-cost meals to students reduces food insecurity, improved diet, addresses obesity among students, and encourages a better learning environment. This is a call of action for the Mayor’s Office of Food Security in collaboration with the Office of Emergency Management, and the Department of education to come up with a plan to provide students with after-school, breakfast, and lunch meals in cases where the schools are shut down or when remote learning is being used.
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References
Abad-Santos, A. (2020). How US schools are (and aren’t) providing meals to children in the Covid-19 crisis. Retrieved 30 September 2020, from https://www.vox.com/2020/3/28/21197965/coronavirus-school-shutdown-free-meals.
Legistar.council.nyc.gov. (2020). The New York City Council - File #: Int 2057-2020. Legistar.council.nyc.gov. Retrieved 30 September 2020, from https://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4624881&GUID=A352B4B6-08EC-40DD-9FFF-227CB996FE5B&Options=ID%7CText%7C&Search=Int+2057-2020.
Levine, S. (2018). School lunch politics. Princeton University Press.
Poppendieck, J. (2017). Free for all. University of California Press.
