Liam McNally
More than 1000 children in Melton may be going to school without food, according to a recent report by council.
At a council meeting on Monday, April 24 Melton council noted a report that investigated the issue of school aged children going to school without breakfast within the municipality.
The report estimated that in 2017 3.1 per cent of the Melton population were experiencing food insecurity.
The report said “it is likely that figure is now much greater” since health, educational and employment impacts of the pandemic, rising cost of living, and economic downturn have increased hardship in Melton.
“This means that potentially more than 650 primary school students and 475 secondary school students may be experiencing food insecurity in their homes, which may result in their going to school without breakfast or lunch” the report said.
The report also noted anecdotal reports of school aged children committing food theft at major shopping centres within the municipality and that theft is more likely to happen in the hours before school, suggesting a possible link to issues of food insecurity for these young people.
The state government’s Foodbank School Breakfast Program currently supports 24 Melton schools to deliver school breakfast programs, At the meeting, council also moved to write to local state MP’s to advocate for two more schools currently on the waitlist to be provided funding for the program.
Councillor Kathy Majdlik said she feels “very strongly that no child in Australia should go to school hungry”.
“I hope that these letters can shed some light to our local MP’s that they can take that information and hopefully get some more funding for the schools that have missed out in our municipality,” she said.
Cr Sophie Ramsay said that her daughters are both school teachers “and they feed kids out of their own pockets”.
“I’m sure every teacher across the state would resort to that because their welfare is predominant.
“I commend the state government on bringing these breakfasts into schools, and I commend Cr Majdlik and Cr Kesic on the addition [of the letter] but I’d also like to commend Cr Vandenberg for putting the motion up initially.”
