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tagged: Athens, children without breakfast, education ministry, free meals, free snacks, Greece, Greek children, schools, ThessalonikiAthens: School Children To Get Free Meals – Thessaloniki: 500 Kids Go to School w/o Breakfast
Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Society
This is a Greek reality that officials could not turn a blind eye to. The fact that many families cannot properly feed their children anymore due to the strict austerity and devastating economic crisis. As the phenomenon of malnourished school children has been increasing, the Education Ministry decided to provide children with free snack-meals in 18 schools of 10 districts and low-income suburbs of Athens. In the districts of Patisia, Exarchia and Vathis Square, in the south suburbs of Tavros and Moschato and the eastern suburbs of Nikaia, Menidi, Keratsini, Aspropyrgos, the ministry will distribute coupons worth €2 to €3 to school children in order to get their free snacks form the school canteens. Milk and cereal biscuits, a sandwich, a fruit.
Deputy Education Minister Evi Christophilopoulou said that the pilot programme is financed by EU money and she did not rule out that the programme may be extended to schools ini other areas as well.
At the same time, the municipality of Thessaloniki revealed some shocking data from a survey about how many children go to school without breakfast and cannot afford to buy one at school. “It’s 500 children” Giorgos Thomopoulos, chairman of the parents and children association of Thessaloniki prefecture, told state broadcast NET this morning. 500 children out of 33,500 go start their day without breakfast. The municipality survey has not been concluded yet. (Real News)
We can’t but say ”Bravo” to Greece’s Education Ministry for this action.
PS No, we won’t comment that the necessity of distributing free meals to school children reveals the savage daily-life of many families. Some Greek readers may recall, that in the 1950′s free milk was been distributed to Greek school children to prevent malnutrition. At that time the aid was given via the Marshall Plan. The times, they’re a-changing…
Greek children during WWII Occupation
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So sad for those children. They probably bear that scar for life.
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But I doubt it has much to do with ‘strict austerity’. It has everything to do with the spending choices our society makes.
How can one speak of ‘strict austerity’ when civil servants still get promoted and getting a nice raise? Or when another one assures me that you still can get big grants for all kinds of dodgy schemes?
These are all choices that make that these kids have to go to school without breakfast and choices that make that an elderly patient has to endure broken windows and vermin in hospitals. Because we, as a society, rather have a pharmacist on every corner and pay through our noses for the medicines they provide us with, at totally inflated prices. Or to turn back the decision to close down ET1. Or decide that children should not write in their free schoolbooks so they can be returned after the school-year and be used for another 2 or 3 years, like in many other countries? Just think about the amount of money and meals…
I would rather have something to eat than classes of 20 or 25 pupils maximum. I sat in one year in a class of 50, because there was no money to replace a sick teacher.
It’s all choices.
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While I’m on the ‘grandfather-tells-stories-chair’ alow me to finish with some more anecdotes from my own life. Even I got free milk at school when I was young. And no, that wasn’t in the 40s or 50s. And I never could buy breakfast or lunch at school. It just wasn’t sold there. Got some bread at breakfast and took my lunch in a piece of paper. And we were not poor at all. It was just the way things were done back then. Somewhere in the 70s people realised how much money was wasted by giving away milk for free this way. And the government abolished the scheme when they had to cut back their spending.
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So, when and how can we force this government to, at last, make real choices that will benefit not their cronies but those hungry children at school???
by downvoting them, Antonis. We used to go to school having just a glass of milk at home and eat the home-made sandwich at school. that was choise tooo and Greek breakfast habits. But mothers stilll give their children 2. breakfast wrapped for school. and not only due to the crisis but due to choise. I think I sat all my elementary years (6) and 3 years of secondary education in class rooms with 50 children. That was gov’ choise back then as it is nowadays after the school mergers. Did it affect me and my class mates? It sure did. The teacher would take a notice of an individual child once per 6 months.
with ‘austerity’ I mean recession and income decreases through tax increases and elimination of jobs.
Ah, we got more in common than we like…
Yes, ofcourse it was not ideal to be in a class of 50, but look where it brought us!……… Oh… sorry, bad example. Here we are in Greece and on KTG.
(thanks for the clarification about ‘austerity’)
yes, at the end of the day, we ended almost incomeless at KTG. We had successful years though.
On my part I was happy to finish school and get rid of it and found my way years later.
im younger, my highschool class was 35 students strong. but the fact that part of our society has to relive the 50s while as antonis says another part thinks everything is rosy will inevitably lead to friction. the us and them will get wider and more extreme. and then we might relive the late 40s or mid 60s. but its ok cos i just read that all the parties agreed that the party funding from the budget is fine. and that the parties should get favourable terms for paying back their loans. once again the political class have their priorities straight. i applaud them(sarcasm)
even without the () we would understand the sarcasm lol