Eliminating the sweet stuff

Introducing a healthy drink-only policy in primary schools

Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga Ministry of Education (MoE) is publicly discussing proposals to introduce new rules where primary school pupils will only be given healthy drinks by their schools, such as water, milk, and non-dairy milk alternatives.

The reason why this proposal has been introduced is that New Zealand health statistics show many children are having issues with decaying teeth by the time they reach their final year in primary school, which is Year 8. This issue has brought New Zealand’s historical inequities to MoE’s attention as these decaying teeth rates are higher for Pacific and Māori pupils. Sweet drinks are cheap, easily accessible, and addictive, which doesn’t favour young children. As a result, sweet sodas like CocaCola, which has about 10.6 grams of sugar per 100ml, are why there’s more than a quarter of children’s sugar intake in the country. New Zealand’s current National Administration Guideline (NAG) 5b will come to an end on January 1st, 2023. The NAG wants every school board to promote healthy eating and nutrition.

Slowly but surely, primary schools have started to provide children with healthy drinks and/or wateronly regulations. MoE stated they’re proposing to change NAG 5g into a legal obligation and add another new commitment, which means school boards can only provide healthy drinks in primary schools – no fizzy options at all. This proposal has been presented as it’s important to keep children’s teeth and overall health in good shape, as this will help decrease the chance of children experiencing obesity, which has become more problematic over the recent years according to the ministry. Minister of Education, Chris Hipkins, says this new regulation (if it came into effect), would not affect what sort of food the children had in their lunchboxes or drink bottles, as that is up to the schools themselves.

“Promoting healthy food and drink in schools is common practice in other OECD countries. Evidence also shows the earlier in a child’s development that healthy habits can be encouraged, the better.” The public discussion is good because it gives schools, kura, parents, and health professionals the chance to educate others on the topic and leaves people feeling openminded about the situation.

Only a few secondary schools have a healthy drinks regulation implemented. However, the government is in the process of considering introducing the same sort of policy in more secondary schools someday. Before doing so, the MoE wants to hear from the government what obstacles might be in the way of a similar introduction.

The consultation regarding only providing healthy drinks in all primary schools in New Zealand closes at midnight on Thursday, June 2nd, 2022. Anyone can make a submission by clicking on this link: www.consultation.education. govt.nz/te-puna-kaupapaherepolicy-governance-legislation-andaccountability/promotion-andprovision-healthy-drinks-in-schools. If Cabinet agrees, then the new obligation would commence from Term 1 in 2023.

Fulton Hogan Nelson

Fulton Hogan is a family owned business, committed to ensuring the work we do today will make a real difference to the lives of our people and customers, the communities they call home, and the world we live in, tomorrow.

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