Danish party wants free school meals for kids
Denmark’s Social Liberal (Radikale Venstre) party wants to introduce free school meals for all children in a move it says would help support vulnerable families.
The sight of kids opening paper-wrapped rugbrødsmadder (rye bread with toppings), brought from home for consumption during school break time, is one of the most common occurrences in everyday Denmark.
That could change if the centre-left opposition party the Social Liberals, who want standard free school meals, get their way.
The party says that free school meals for all children at Denmark’s elementary schools (folkeskoler) would ensure children from vulnerable families get necessary healthy meals.
“We know that socially vulnerable children are better able to learn and build relations with healthy, green food,” Social Liberal leader Martin Lidegaard said.
A school meal system would also free up time for families at home, he added.
“We know that time is a scarce commodity for busy families and this could give an extra half an hour to spend with the family. We think it’s worth it,” he said.
Sweden and Finland have had positive experiences with similar schemes, but it would need to be trialled in Denmark before being fully introduced according to the Social Liberal proposal.
A trial in 5-10 municipalities could test the viability of the scheme before a full roll-out, the party says.
Considerations would also be made as to whether entire schools or just classes would eat together and whether children would help in preparing the meals.
A national scheme could cost up to 3.3 billion kroner according to calculations made by parliament’s schools committee.
The Social Liberals want to fund the plan from the current disposable funds available to the government.
It would be available to all children regardless of background, Lidegaard said.
“We know that one of the biggest social markers is what a lunch box looks like,” he said.
As such, the plan would apply to all despite this restricting choice for those who have the resources and would prefer to provide their own lunches for children.
“Some people would say that [a packed lunch] is a statement of affection for the child contain one’s own values, but many children don’t get this and as a society we have a responsibility to share these values with everyone,” he said.
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The sight of kids opening paper-wrapped rugbrødsmadder (rye bread with toppings), brought from home for consumption during school break time, is one of the most common occurrences in everyday Denmark.
That could change if the centre-left opposition party the Social Liberals, who want standard free school meals, get their way.
The party says that free school meals for all children at Denmark’s elementary schools (folkeskoler) would ensure children from vulnerable families get necessary healthy meals.
“We know that socially vulnerable children are better able to learn and build relations with healthy, green food,” Social Liberal leader Martin Lidegaard said.
A school meal system would also free up time for families at home, he added.
“We know that time is a scarce commodity for busy families and this could give an extra half an hour to spend with the family. We think it’s worth it,” he said.
Sweden and Finland have had positive experiences with similar schemes, but it would need to be trialled in Denmark before being fully introduced according to the Social Liberal proposal.
A trial in 5-10 municipalities could test the viability of the scheme before a full roll-out, the party says.
Considerations would also be made as to whether entire schools or just classes would eat together and whether children would help in preparing the meals.
A national scheme could cost up to 3.3 billion kroner according to calculations made by parliament’s schools committee.
The Social Liberals want to fund the plan from the current disposable funds available to the government.
It would be available to all children regardless of background, Lidegaard said.
“We know that one of the biggest social markers is what a lunch box looks like,” he said.
As such, the plan would apply to all despite this restricting choice for those who have the resources and would prefer to provide their own lunches for children.
“Some people would say that [a packed lunch] is a statement of affection for the child contain one’s own values, but many children don’t get this and as a society we have a responsibility to share these values with everyone,” he said.
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