Labour leader David Shearer is doing his best to gain some much-needed traction for his party by focusing attention on the all-important education sector.
It's not as if it has been ignored with debate over national standards, charter schools and performance pay for teachers among issues addressed recently. But in
recent days Shearer has deliberately drawn attention to Labour's vision of how to address areas of concern.
While there have been several aspects targeted, most attention has turned to the plan to offer a meal at decile 1-3 schools across the country.
It has long been known that hungry children struggle to learn as well as those who come to school with a belly full of breakfast. There is merit in trying to ensure that, of all the possible distractions, hunger is not impacting on our children's ability to learn.
Already a number of schools across the country provide some form of nutrition, mainly breakfast, and four decile 1 principals in Wanganui have signalled their support for the initiative.
