Questão 948632

Read the text to answer questions from 26 to 34.

More children should be given free school meals to help tackle the “devastating reality” of the cost of living crisis in England, teachers say. All children from families who receive universal credit should be eligible as part of an “urgent” expansion of the scheme, 11 educational groups said in a letter seen by the BBC. Around one in five pupils – 1.7 million children - receive free school meals at the moment.

The prices of food, fuel and other goods have surged in recent months in the UK, pushing inflation – the rate at which prices rise - to a 40-year high. Measures the government have announced to try to tackle the rising cost of living include a £400 energy bill discount for every household.

But the joint letter, sent to Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi by education unions and other organisations claiming to represent one million school staff in England, said vulnerable children not receiving free school meals were facing a “real barrier to learning”. “We see the devastating reality of children coming to school unable to afford to buy lunch, because their family circumstances means they fall outside the restrictive free school meal eligibility criteria,” it said.

An estimated 2.6 million children in the UK live in households that missed meals or struggled to access healthy food during April, according to data from the Food Foundation charity. “Our food banks have always run in the mornings, and suddenly people are asking if they can come at night – because people who are working full-time still can’t make ends meet,” says Rachel Bresnahan, from the food bank program.

(Kate McGough. www.bbc.com, 01.06.2022. Adapted)

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