Union calls for Minister of Education to take over lunch scheme

NZEI Te Riu Roa has asked for Minister of Education Erica Stanford to take over the revamped Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme, currently being overseen by Associate Education Minister David Seymour.

In the letter, the union has also asked for the programme to go back to its original, internally delivered model.  

President Ripeka Lessels says Seymour “has shown a lack of care for tamariki”.  

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In an interview with 1News, Lessels said it was the Minister of Education’s job to “fix it”, and that’s why they are asking she step in.  

In response, Seymour said Lessels was entitled to her view but “that’s the union view, and they’re playing politics”. 

The letter comes after reports of Seymour failing to show up to a meeting with Stanford over the lunch scheme. Stanford says she wants to make sure the reported issues with the programme “are being cleared up”. 

Seymour has said he is working on the issues with the provider, and pointed out there had been a 99 percent on time delivery for Monday last week.  

“We have had problems, we’ve been upfront about them, we’ve solved them and we’ll continue to do that. The net result will be meals the children do actually like. 

“This particular programme has a lot more political attention on it right now. My commitment is that we are going to do it really well, we’re going to overcome problems when we find them and be first class in what we do.”  

Seymour said he would tell Stanford the plan was “continuous improvement”.  

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