Reports indicate that some Irish primary schools offer as little as 10 minutes of lunchtime for students, leading children to take home lunchboxes full of food.
Sports nutritionist Daniel Davey said the issue seems to stem from the school curriculum itself.
“My little girl started school this week and her lunchbox is coming home with food in it,” he told Lunchtime Live.
“When we asked, she started talking about the bell, and I was like, ‘Geez, there must be something here’.
“So, I put out a video asking the question and the response was overwhelming.
“Parents, teachers, even principals acknowledging that this is an issue; lunchboxes are coming home because children don’t have enough time to eat.”
According to Mr Davey, while schools are allocated 30 minutes of a break, 20 minutes are typically spent outside on yard.
Meanwhile, just 10 minutes are afforded for children to go to the bathroom, wash their hands, get out their lunchboxes and actually sit down to eat, he said.
View this post on Instagram
“There’s a very strong body of evidence that suggests that it should actually be a minimum of 20 minutes [for children to eat their food],” Mr Davey said.
He acknowledged that with exercise and learning taking priority, it may not be possible for schools to accommodate this.
However, Mr Davey pointed out that children tend to make less healthy decisions when they are put under pressure to eat.
Eating school lunch at a primary school in Worcestershire, UK“We know what the research suggests, but I want to be practical,” he said.
“Even if there’s a modification, greater flexibility – or even [if] an extra five minutes is allocated, I think that could make a big difference in the long term.
“If we look at modern society, we’ve moved towards a very convenience focus and there isn’t the same attention placed on the cooking and the skills that are needed.
“I think we’re talking about creating long-term eating issues and poor relationships with food if this isn’t addressed.”
Department response
A response issued by the Department of Education and Youth said that "a typical school day for Junior classes is 4 hours and 40 minutes and Senior classes 5 hours and 40 minutes with appropriate recreation i.e. 30 minutes."
"Where a recreation interval/break of a longer duration is taken (for example when children are allowed to have lunch in the classroom prior to the official commencement of the recreation interval/break), the length of the school day must be extended correspondingly," a spokesperson said.
"Under the provisions of the Education Act, 1998, the Board of Management is responsible for the day to day running of a school.
"The arrangement within the recreation interval/break for pupils to eat their lunch is a matter for each Board of Management to determine and the Department has not issued guidelines to schools in this regard."
Main image: Primary school kids sitting at table eating their packed lunches and talking. Image: MBI. 25 October 2018
