Council offers 'ethical' school meals

A Scottish council is to offer all its pupils the chance to earn reward points for overseas aid by eating healthy school dinners.

The pilot initiative from East Ayrshire Council is the latest bid by authorities to combat unhealthy eating and increase the take up of school meals.

For the next six months, those children eating school dinners will earn points to help buy farm animals, food supplies and medical supplies and equip classrooms for projects run by development charity Save the Children.

According to the Guardian website , the project is thought to be the first of its kind in the UK and is preferred to those that reward children with iPods, concert tickets and book tokens.

The website says the project is expected to earn at least £3,250 towards Save the Children gifts over the next six months and, to reach that target, pupils must eat 650,000 school dinners.

Children at the 44 primary schools and nine secondaries will then vote on how to spend their points, choosing items from the charity's online donations catalogue.

Robin Gourlay, the council official who devised the scheme, is quoted as saying: "It's about making a difference; even if it's a small difference, that's worthwhile."

Original article appeared in www.lgcplus.com