Hot school meals for DEIS primary schools welcomed by Kilkenny teacher

An announcement that the Hot School Meals Programme is to be rolled out to all DEIS primary schools has been welcomed in Kilkenny.

Cllr Deirdre Cullen, who is a teacher and a Home School Community Liaison Coordinator working with DEIS schools in Kilkenny and is on the Kilkenny Carlow Education and Training Board, said it’s a welcome development.

“The expansion of the programme to all DEIS primary schools and special schools will mean by the end of this year, 1,000 schools will be receiving hot meals,” said Cllr Cullen.
“From 2024, we will see the roll-out of hot meals to all remaining primary schools. This will be done on a phased basis.”

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The focus of this programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children who may be unable, due to lack of good quality food, to take full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage improved school attendance and extra educational achievement.

“All students have a right to, and deserve, a level playing field when it comes to access to education. In delivering equality in education, it’s vital that we provide the resources needed so that no child is at a disadvantage and the school meals programme is an important component of this,” Cllr Cullen said.

An evaluation of the School Meals Programme showed there is an overwhelming consensus among all participants that it is effective. The provision of school meals resulted in improvements in attendance and educational attainment in school.

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The report makes a number of recommendations, including that the provision of the hot school meal option should be extended to all DEIS primary schools for the 2023/24 academic year, and that there should be a universal school meals programme with one free hot meal for every child in Ireland, implemented in a phased approach, by 2030.
In June 2020, there were 30 schools receiving hot meals. Today there are almost 500 schools benefitting from the hot meals programme.