Has coronavirus changed school meals for ever?
How a school meal is so much more than food.
In March 2020, as countries struggled to contain the coronavirus pandemic, 90% of the world鈥檚 school children were sent home. With all eyes - and headlines - on the spread of Covid-19, it took a while for many to see that another crisis had been unleashed - hundreds of millions of children around the world were now going hungry because they relied on free school meals as their main source of nutrition. Not every parent had the money to buy more food - and few governments had adequate plans in place to help them.
Emily Thomas hears extraordinary stories from Kenya and the US of how schools and charities fought to reach children throughout school closures. Could the coronavirus have changed school meals for good - and if so, why did it take a pandemic for the world to wake up to their importance?
(Picture: boy with school lunch. Credit: Getty Images/91热爆)
If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk.
Contributors:
Wawira Njiru: Founder and Executive Director, Food for Education
Carmen Burbano: Director of the World Food Programme鈥檚 School Feeding Division
Dr. Gabriella McLoughlin: Research Associate, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri
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- Thu 11 Feb 2021 02:32GMT91热爆 World Service
- Thu 11 Feb 2021 06:32GMT91热爆 World Service Americas and the Caribbean
- Thu 11 Feb 2021 09:32GMT91热爆 World Service
- Thu 11 Feb 2021 13:32GMT91热爆 World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Thu 11 Feb 2021 21:32GMT91热爆 World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Thu 11 Feb 2021 23:32GMT91热爆 World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
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