A school meal (whether it is a breakfast, lunch, or evening meal) is a meal provided to students and sometimes teachers at a school, typically in the middle or beginning of the school day. Countries around the world offer various kinds of school meal programs, and altogether, these are among the world's largest social safety nets.^[1] An estimated 380 million school children around the world receive meals (or snacks or take-home rations) at their respective schools.^[2] The extent of school feeding coverage varies from country to country, and as of 2020, the aggregate coverage rate worldwide is estimated to be 27% (and 40% specifically for primary school-age children).^[3]

The objectives and benefits of school meals vary. In developing countries, school meals provide food security at times of crisis and help children to become healthy and productive adults, thus helping to break the cycle of poverty and hunger. They can address micronutrient deficiencies by serving diverse foods or including fortified foods.^[4] They also serve as an incentive to send children to school and continue their education, and they can be leveraged specifically to reduce barriers to schooling for girls.^[5] When school meals are targeted toward low-income or vulnerable children, they serve as a social safety net.^[6] Especially in developed countries, school meals are structured to encourage healthy eating habits.^[7] School meal programs can also be aimed at supporting the domestic or local agricultural sector.^[8]

History

The first school lunches were though to be served in 1790 in Munich, Germany by an American born physicist, Benjamin Thompson, also known as Count Rumford. Thompson had spent his early days in New England, but as a royalist during the American Revolutionary War, he had become distrusted and left for England in 1784. In Munich, Thompson founded the Poor People's Institute which employed both adults and children to make uniforms for the German Army. They were fed and clothed for their work and the children were taught reading, writing and arithmetic. Years later, Thompson would feed 60,000 people a day from his soup kitchen in London.^[9][10]

In the United Kingdom, significant changes have been made since school meals were introduced in the 19th century by Elizabeth Burgwin and others.^[11] The first National School Meals Policy was published across the United Kingdom in 1941. The Policy set the first nutritional guidelines for school lunches, requiring balanced meals which include the appropriate levels of protein, fat, and calories.^[12]

In the United States, there was a social inequality gap during the industrial era, and there was room for improvement in all realms of education. Philadelphia and Boston were the first two cities to institute school lunches in the U.S. Organizations such as Women's Education and the Starr Center Association began serving hot meals to students for a cost that was affordable for most. Soon after, teachers started to notice the benefits for students—both mentally and physically. The federal government wasn't involved until the Great Depression (1920s), when farmers and labors weren't doing well financially and the school lunch program was a solution that benefited everyone.^[13]

In recent years, school districts have faced government or community pressure to change the foods served in schools. The addition of vegan school lunch and Meatless Mondays are examples of these changes.

Types

Universal school meals

Sweden, Finland, Estonia and India are among the few countries which provide universal school meals to all pupils in compulsory education, regardless of their ability to pay.^[14][15][16] In India, where all Government School students are provided with free lunches through the Midday Meal Scheme, staple foods are provided along with free education.

Targeted school meals

School meals can also be targeted, often toward students who are poor or otherwise vulnerable. Such targeting can be geographic (providing school meals in all schools with a region that is deemed food insecure or lower income), school-based (targeting schools with a population of generally poor students), or based on individual characteristics (targeting students based on their household income, ethnic status, or other individual traits). Across different settings and school meal programs, many different approaches are used when targeting school meals.^[3]

Free school meals

In low-income countries, most school meal programs make food available for free. In high-income countries, free school meals are usually available only to children who meet income-based criteria.

A study of a free school meal program in the United States found that providing free meals to elementary and middle school children in areas characterized by high food insecurity led to better school discipline among the students.^[17]

As of 2022^[update] in England, 20.8% of the 8.9 million pupils attending schools in 2020/21 are known to be eligible for free school meals.^[18]

Reduced price meals

Reduced price meals are also available in some countries to those who need a degree of assistance with costs. Lower-cost meals are available to students in such countries as France, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, Portugal,^[19] and the United States.^[14]

Full price meals

In some programs, meals are made available for purchase in school cafeterias/canteens at full price. For example, in the United States, students who don't qualify for reduced price lunches can still purchase food at the full price. In the United Arab Emirates, all food in school cafeterias is available for purchase, though prices reflect only the cost of the food itself.^[3]

Hot cooked meals

School meals can be cooked in a kitchen (whether in each school or in a centralized kitchen, with the cooked food then delivered to individual schools).

Cold meals

School meals can also be uncooked, serving cold sandwiches or packaged biscuits. For example, the National School Nutrition Program in Egypt serves only Ma'amool, a baked food item made with dates.^[20]

Africa

Nigeria

In April 2012, the State of Osun in Nigeria started a statewide school meals programme for all public elementary school pupils. It is called the O'Meals programme (an acronym for the Osun Elementary School Feeding and Health Programme). As of July 2014, it was providing lunch to over 252,000 children in 100% of Osun's elementary schools. In addition to staples such as rice, beans, and yams served with stews, soups, and vegetables, the programme provides daily fruits. Its estimated cost is N50 (USD $0.31) per child per day.^[21]

According to a report on O'Meals' benefits:^[21]

Within four weeks of the O'Meals launch, school enrollment increase by approximately 25%. According to the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics July 2013 edition, Osun has the highest primary school enrollment rates in Nigeria – a feat largely attributable to O'Meals. O'Meals promotes and boosts income generation opportunities, particularly for women. To date, the program has economically empowered over 3,000 previously unemployed women by hiring them as food vendors

All food items are sourced locally from farmers and others on the supply chain, enhancing employment within the state. Addressing child malnutrition has raised students' academic performance, and has increased school enrollment by 24% compared to figures from before April 2012.^[22]

In 2015, the manifesto of the All Progressives Congress (APC) advocated for the adoption of a nationwide free meal plan. Since he became President, Muhammadu Buhari has made the implementation of this policy one of his foremost priorities. A national School Meals programme is the subject of a budgetary proposal before the National Assembly. Also, the government of Kaduna State has implemented a school feeding programme.^{[citation needed]}

Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Free_school_meals
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