According to reports from school principals across England, in the country where the food crisis is in, children eat erasers when they are hungry or hide in playgrounds because they can’t afford lunch.
According to The Guardian, EnglandDue to the food and energy crisis in , there was a “heartbreaking” increase in the number of hungry children in schools even before winter. It was stated that rising energy bills are forcing families to choose between heating and their children’s food allowance.
In the news, it was stated that the students who came to school with an empty lunch box acted as if they were eating, and that they could not get free food at school and wanted their friends not to know that there was no food at home.
Food aid organizations stated that they had difficulty in meeting the food aid requests from families.
“A HEART-BREAKING SITUATION”
Naomi Duncan, Managing Director of Chefs in Schools, said: “We hear that there are students in schools who eat erasers because they are so hungry. Children come to school without eating anything after their lunch the previous day. The government must do something. It’s absolutely heartbreaking. They go out and they can’t eat. They find the children hiding in the playground for food,” he said.
In England, all kindergarten students are entitled to free school meals for up to two years. However, according to the Child Poverty Action Group, only children whose parents earn less than £7,400 a year are able to enjoy these rights and 800,000 children living in poverty are denied these rights.