In March 2020, as countries struggled to contain the coronavirus pandemic, 90% of the world’s school children were sent home. With all eyes - and headlines - on the spread of Covid-19, it took a while for many to see that another crisis had been unleashed - hundreds of millions of children around the world were now going hungry because they relied on free school meals as their main source of nutrition. Not every parent had the money to buy more food - and few governments had adequate plans in place to help them.

Emily Thomas hears extraordinary stories from Kenya and the US of how schools and charities fought to reach children throughout school closures. Could the coronavirus have changed school meals for good - and if so, why did it take a pandemic for the world to wake up to their importance?

(Picture: boy with school lunch. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

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Contributors:

Wawira Njiru: Founder and Executive Director, Food for Education

Carmen Burbano: Director of the World Food Programme’s School Feeding Division

Dr. Gabriella McLoughlin: Research Associate, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri