Government's school lunch programme helps most disadvantaged kids, inconclusive about school attendance

Thursday, 12 August 2021

The first evaluation of the Government's Ka Ora, Ka Ako school lunch programme analysed the impact of the programme in its first two to three months.

The Government’s school lunch programme has helped disadvantaged students feel less hungry, but has not shown to make a difference to school attendance in its first months, a research report states.

The first evaluation of the multi-million dollar Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme analysed the start of the programme in terms two and three in 2020 – looking at 38 primary and intermediate schools in Hawke’s Bay and Bay of Plenty.

The programme came under scrutiny in May, when Stuff revealed thousands of the taxpayer-funded lunches were going uneaten each week.

Initially, the Ministry of Education said nobody had to count leftover lunches, but then changed its tune, saying schools would have to start reporting back the numbers.

* Ministry does u-turn on counting uneaten school lunches

Hamilton community centre manager Neil Tolan is grateful for leftover lunches from the Government's Ka Ora, Ka Ako school lunch programme, as is Kaivolution which helps distribute the lunches to night shelters and women's refuges.

* Schools advised to discourage kids from eating home-packed lunch over government supplied ones

The evaluation did not address the numbers of lunches uneaten, thrown out or left over at the end of each day.

The evaluation, which cost taxpayers nearly $500,000, was completed by researchers at Standard of Proof, a government provider.

It does not evaluate the expansion of the programme to secondary schools, which started rolling out in 2021. Nor does it evaluate the number of uneaten or leftover lunches in its first three months.

Researchers compared schools that were in the programme with those that weren’t; they used two, five-day food diaries from more than 2000 students across 38 schools; and analysed lunch photos collected from classes in 128 schools.

They also analysed student attendance and held focus groups in nine schools.

Disadvantaged students benefited the most from the programme, feeling 20 per cent “fuller” after eating the lunches compared to their more advantaged peers, the researchers concluded.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at Bite L.A.B, a school lunch provider, in March 2021. The Government has so far spent $264.9 million on the school lunch programme.

More healthy food was given to students than what was previously in their lunch boxes from home – with 39 per cent more lunches having at least one vegetable, and 15.7 per cent having fewer sweets and snacks.

“The pilot contributed to a significant change towards eating behaviour, and a slightly happier and healthier (average) primary and intermediate learner in the first few months,” the report states.

Students were given food diaries, where they were asked about the frequency of problems they were facing, and instructed to complete questionnaires about their quality of life and mental wellbeing.

From this, researchers concluded there was a 6.2 per cent increase in mental wellbeing from students who did not have enough food to eat prior to the programme being introduced.

But the study found there weren’t any “clear benefits” of the school lunch programme to student attendance.

Researchers analysed student attendance data from 87 schools. Schools receiving the lunches reported back they didn’t believe attendance had changed or couldn’t comment.

And anecdotal reports from staff about the programme was also mixed, with some saying there was no change in hunger or even a decrease in amount of food available after the programme started.

“In a separate pilot school, staff believed that learners are more restless now given they are receiving less food than was otherwise in their lunch boxes.”

Ministry of Education senior staffer Helen Hurst said the interim evaluation report cost $499,241, and there weren’t any changes to the programme following its first conclusions.

When asked why the report did not evaluate uneaten lunches, Hurst said it was focused on topics like food availability, consumption, hunger reduction, wellbeing and attendance.

Another evaluation will focus on the programme’s impact in secondary schools, with findings available in late 2023, Hurst said.

“In 2021/2022 we will invest over $130 million in the Ka Ora, Ka Ako healthy school lunches programme.

“There are now 875 schools with around 205,000 students receiving free and healthy lunches, and the programme is estimated to have generated around 1980 jobs since its inception.”