Our school lunch programme is too important to get wrong

The following opinion piece by Children's Commissioner, Dr Claire Achmad was originally published in The Post and the Waikato Times on Friday, 3 July 2026.

"The school lunch programme is one of the most significant existing opportunities we have right now to reduce the effects of child poverty, and support families struggling with the rising cost of living.

As Children's Commissioner, I am rallying behind the importance of sustaining it.

The programme is now in place across more than 1,000 schools. It reaches more than 200,000 children every school day. The infrastructure is there. Schools are invested in it and families are relying on it. Few public policies offer such a direct and immediate way to improve children's lives at this scale.

That is why we cannot afford to get it wrong.

Unfortunately, the Auditor-General’s new report into the school lunch programme highlights too many shortcomings. And this comes at a time when so many families are struggling to afford the basics, and the value of a nutritious lunch-time meal for children can’t be overestimated.

The latest official child poverty statistics show that 14.3% of New Zealand children — around one in seven — are living in material hardship. These are children going without essentials such as adequate heating, fresh fruit and vegetables, or visits to the doctor because they are simply unaffordable for their families. And the experience of material hardship is far from evenly distributed: rates are much higher than the national average for New Zealand’s Pacific children (31% living in material hardship), disabled children (27%) and mokopuna Māori (25.1%).

Our rates of material hardship should concern us all – because behind every statistic is a child (in this case, almost 170,000 children), right here in New Zealand, missing out on their most basic of rights – to adequate shelter, to healthy food, and to basic health. In fact, there are now around 47,500 more children living in material hardship than there were in 2022. A recent Hunger Monitor survey found that one in five children lived in households where food ran out sometimes or often over the past year. Again, the burden is unequal - almost half of Pacific children and a third of mokopuna Māori experienced food insecurity.

Against this backdrop, a nutritious school lunch provides both immediate and long-term benefits. It eases pressure on families struggling with rising costs while helping children concentrate, attend school and learn. Research consistently shows that food insecurity is linked to poorer educational outcomes, lower attendance and worse health and wellbeing. In this sense, the programme is an education, health and poverty-reduction initiative all at once, meaning it is essential it delivers on the outcomes it promises.

From a children’s rights perspective, providing free, healthy school lunches in a non-stigmatising way makes so much sense – such programmes can be practical ways of advancing children’s rights, focusing on their rights to health, development and an adequate standard of living. And even though there was a time when the idea of Government-funded school lunches was politically contentious, that conversation has evolved. It is now widely accepted that many children need this support and that providing nutritious food at school is both sensible and compassionate public policy.

That is why the findings of the Auditor-General's report about New Zealand’s school lunch programme matter so much.

While it found that while the programme now costs less, there are concerns about food quality, waste, procurement and oversight. Critically, the Ministry of Education cannot demonstrate whether it is consistently delivering nutritious meals to the children who rely on them most.

Public money should always be spent responsibly, and we need confidence that programmes are well managed and deliver value. But if a programme saves money while failing to consistently deliver nutritious food to the children who rely on it most, then we are missing the point.

Children's rights and wellbeing should be the primary measure of success. The programme needs to be optimised with that in mind, from every angle.

At a time when child poverty and food insecurity remain serious challenges, New Zealand already has a mechanism capable of supporting hundreds of thousands of children every day. If we get the Healthy School Lunches Programme right, we can ease pressure on families, support learning and improve children's wellbeing.

This programme has the potential to make a genuine difference in children's lives. There’s clearly significant opportunity for improvement, and we must keep holding the programme accountable for achieving the outcomes that matter in children’s lives. It’s a sound investment in today and our collective future – so why wouldn’t we focus on getting it right?"

Media contact:
Melissa Wastney
029 909 2715