Peter Pay Paul

POOR PETER PAYING PAUL 

By Stephen Wilson                                     

 

Things are falling apart in Britain as school teachers are feeding pupils out of their own pockets. Child hunger has soared as austerity goes on and on.

 

More and more Scottish school teachers are witnessing the devastating impact of over a decade of uninterrupted austerity policies being ruthlessly enforced. And there is no reprieve for hungry school children. Teachers have reported seeing more hungry school students turning up at their lessons. They often can't afford a school meal so their dinner might be a bar of chocolate, a cheap hamburger or a tray of leftover rice. Teachers can often spot the look of hunger on children straight away. They have those bleak and listless eyes or sleepy look on their faces. They are less alert and attentive in the classroom. Then they have this dizziness that constantly accompanies hunger.

 

The  NASUWT {a union of school teachers} stated that they had received reports, from a survey, that their members were handing out money, food and clothes to many children and families who can't make ends meet. The survey of 360 teachers which was undertaken by the union found that as many as 65% had witnessed increased numbers of children coming into school hungry at the start of the day. As many as 58% teachers claimed that the students lacked the equipment they needed for lessons and 55% claimed that more families can't afford school uniforms. {So much for the argument on behalf of school uniforms that school uniforms obscure inequality and so conceal poverty. Families can't even buy the means of hiding their glaring poverty.}  

 

What does a teacher do when confronted with hungry school children? They often try to feed them. More than two thirds of teachers stated they had handed out food or clothing to pupils, while 27% had assisted a pupil's family to obtain aid from a food bank. As many as 23% said they had lent or given money to pupils.

It is not surprising that teachers not only feel embarrassed and awkward about all this. They are angry. A spokesperson of the Union Mike Corbett succinctly summed up the mood by saying "It's outrageous!" It is not only physical discomfort. Some school students can feel the indignity of humiliation, shame and possible teasing from a few insensitive students.  

 

The world is also watching Britain. The United Nations Human Rights Council demanded that action be taken by the British government to prevent homelessness and provide better food security and equal rights for disabled people. Countries such as Brazil, Angola and Romania all called upon the British government to take firm action. Brazil stated, 'The United Kingdom must improve food security, in particular for young children and adolescents and persons with disabilities.' The proportion of consumers who cannot afford to eat a healthy and balanced diet rose by 36% last month. The United Nations rapporteur on extreme poverty, Olivier De Schutter, warned the British prime minister that prolonged austerity policies will increase hunger and malnutrition in Britain. You'd think that the British state would be concerned about how the international reputation of the United Kingdom had sunk to a new low. How humiliating that Angola has to remind an affluent United Kingdom to take steps to fight poverty. But they seem oblivious. If I tell Russians those facts some don't believe me. They think it must be old Russian state propaganda that tends to run down the West. 

"You don't need to believe me," I retort, "just consult the Reports of the United Nations, charity groups such as Oxfam and academic research readily available on the Internet." 

It is true that the Scottish government itself has made an effort to extend school meals and that free school meals have been extended to primary school children in years one to five and that some councils have taken the special steps of providing all children with free school meals in some schools. But it is evidently not enough! Free school meals should be available to all school students and any attempts to cut welfare benefits must cease. Cutting benefits for the poor is as crude as the blood letting treatment used to treat patients during the plague. The cure is worse than the disease. You end up killing the patients. 

Unfortunately the government is out of touch and remote from the ordinary day lives of people. Imagination is not their strong point. Some can't even imagine why a person from a working class background might actually enjoy a visit to the opera. They think that the opera and the theater is something reserved for the rich and well to do.

 

And how does it feel to be hungry? After just two days you can feel slightly dizzy and then feel amazingly  light. At the beginning you feel more lucid and aware of things around you. You can have the sensation that you are not walking but floating on the streets. But after that you begin to feel dense, tired and can easily succumb to sleep. You start dreaming of food more and more. 

That was my experience of living in Dublin during the early 1980's. I'd often drop into a shelter in Church Street that fed poor people. Once I made a mistake of walking in with a brief case. The guy who handed out sandwiches noticed this and asked, "What are you doing? " as if I was pretending to be hungry. After some persuasion I got two sandwiches. Another two Irish guys with a fellow Scot also noticed me and asked me 'Why are you here?" The Scotsman answered on my behalf: "Well the man has to eat." I think it's great how fellow Scots stick together abroad! 

Then another strange incident happened in Dublin which sounded like a miracle. I had not eaten for some time and was very hungry. While in the city center I spotted a twenty pound note floating down like an autumn leaf on to the road. I quickly walked out and grabbed it. A lorry driver noticing it told me, "It looks like your lucky day." I immediately went to my favorite cafe to get a decent meal. Who ever said that Guardian angels don't exist? If only the current government could be guardian angels to British school children!