NZEI Te Riu Roa is calling on the government to address the systemic failure of its cut-price school lunch programme, after a scathing Auditor General inquiry exposed that the model prioritises superficial cost savings over the well-being of tamariki.
"The findings confirm our concerns: this failed experiment, championed by Associate Education Minister David Seymour, is feeding our tamariki sub-standard, nutritionally deficient meals, undermining their ability to thrive in the classroom and generating massive waste,” NZEI Te Riu Roa President Ripeka Lessels said.
“With 17% of meals left completely unopened and uneaten, alongside the fact that barely half of the food delivered meets basic nutritional standards, it is clear that Minister Seymour’s scheme has not made real savings at all.
“The coalition government is putting immediate fiscal savings ahead of successful investment in our children’s education and health. This reflects their approach of slashing budgets upfront, only to deliver sub-standard services that pass the true cost onto our schools and families.
“This is the opposite of nurturing our tamariki and supporting them to achieve their full potential,” Mrs Lessels said. “This systemic failure has left thousands of vulnerable tamariki paying the price for an unvetted, poorly monitored national contract that failed to deliver basic nutritional standards.”
The Auditor General’s report revealed the Ministry of Education initiated procurement for the $3 meal model while its design and scope were still being finalised, severely compromising fairness for competing suppliers.
Despite explicit warnings from officials that the model could harm students’ health, the Ministry pushed forward and cancelled existing supplier contracts on short notice.
The scheme also failed to control its operational waste: actual food waste reached 8.82kg per 100 lunches – well over the 7kg limit – while completely uneaten surplus meals hit 17%, way past the 10% maximum threshold.