Brussels, Belgium: The energy crisis is raising poverty rates in Belgium, which is already affecting school children and their packed lunches, as per sources all over Belgian education.
In a school in Antwerp, the director claimed that around a third of students arrive at school with no food for the day because of increasing costs having an impact on their parents’ budget.
Karin Heremans, who is the director of the Royal Athenaeum in Antwerp, mentioned in the statement, “Several students did not eat this morning, and not everyone has a lunchbox with them.”
After noticing the trend from the start of the new school year, Heremans took it on herself to monitor the situation.
Moreover, she picked random classes from day to day to check on the students, as it became clear that embarrassment was preventing children from admitting they had no food.
She highlighted after visiting one class, “Five of the seventeen students in this class do not have a lunchbox with them.”
“I also asked who ate this morning. Ten of them did not have breakfast. Three of those ten do not have a lunchbox with them and therefore will only eat their first meal tonight.”
Meanwhile, the children desperately need every meal. “Some students just fall asleep because they haven’t eaten,” says Heremans.
“It has an impact on their concentration and therefore also on their results.”
Along with this, Skipping lunch is not a good idea physically, but the empty lunch boxes also impact the students’ psychological well-being.
Furthermore, he stated, “Children at that age should not care about a basic need, about food, in our society.”
Students are also ashamed when asked why they have nothing with them for the break.
