Plans to ban secondary pupils from leaving school at lunchtime as part of measures to promote healthy eating have been attacked by teachers.
Plans to ban secondary pupils from leaving school at lunchtime as part of measures to promote healthy eating have been attacked by teachers.
The Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association, which represents 9000 school staff, said the move threatened the human rights and freedom of pupils.
The attack came after The Herald revealed earlier this month that, from August, Glasgow City Council will require S1 pupils from eight schools to stay on the premises at lunchtime.
The council has proposed the action as part of wider attempts to tackle Scotland's fixation with junk food with one in five boys and more than one in seven girls aged two to 15 now classed as obese.
Nutritional standards of school meals have improved dramatically in recent years, in line with Scottish Government targets, but the take-up of the new healthier menus has been slow, particularly in secondaries.
One of the main reasons for the slow uptake is that many pupils leave the school grounds at lunchtime to buy chips, burgers and pizzas from takeaway shops or vans.
Last night, Jim Docherty, the SSTA's acting general secretary, urged the council not to press ahead with the proposal.
"We are aware of attempts to instruct pupils not to leave the school premises during lunch breaks, but there is a requirement to balance issues relating to public order and health with the rights pupils may have," he said.
"We would argue strongly that no attempt should be made to introduce such a ban, except with the agreement of parents through the school board or forum.
"Attempts to enforce such a ban may cause conflict with certain parents and with pupils themselves and any parents who wish their children to be allowed out of school at lunch breaks should have those wishes respected."
However, Gordon Matheson, Glasgow City Council's executive member for education, believes the plan could have a significant positive impact on the eating habits of pupils.
"There is little point in offering healthy lunches if thousands of our pupils leave school to buy chips from the local takeaways," he said.
"This measure proposes that there will be a presumption that S1 pupils stay within school grounds in eight secondary schools."
Mr Matheson believes the move will have a positive impact on litter, the safety of children and could even decrease bullying, which often takes place outside school grounds.
The plan has already received a mixed reaction. Professor Mike Lean, chairman of human nutrition at Glasgow University, said the initiative would have a positive impact on pupils' health and should be extended across Scotland.
"The average first-year secondary pupil is not ready to make informed choices about the food they eat and what is best for them in nutritional terms," he said.
"Keeping them in at lunchtime in S1 will help schools educate children about food. Some burger vans and takeaways are exploiting the youngest children and a measure of protection by this curfew is a positive step which other councils should consider adopting."
But Judith Gillespie, policy development officer for the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, disagrees.
"As youngsters move into secondary they have to take control of their lives and deciding what they eat is part of that process," she said.
"The important thing about healthy eating is that young people choose to do it themselves and I think it is wrong to say that just because someone leaves the school grounds at lunchtime means they are eating unhealthily."
