Three Weeks Without School Meals in São Paulo: ‘I’ve Given up Lunch to Feed My Children’

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – In the past three weeks, Elaine Torres Santos, 32, has stopped eating lunch several times so there is no lack of food on her six children’s plates. Unemployed for over two years, she saw her financial situation worsen further when São Paulo’s public schools were closed on March 23rd in an attempt to fight the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

“They had breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner out. The twin babies [three months old] went to daycare. When they arrived I just gave them something before bed to give them a boost,” she says, who explains that her children spent almost the entire day out, since they attended school and the municipal Center for Children and Adolescents (CCA), which also closed its doors.

Elaine’s story is similar to that of several other low-income families, who have suffered from the impacts of the pandemic and are waiting with great hardship for the help promised by the government, which has not yet come off the paper.

Without classes, meals and a day care center, all of Elaine’s family has had to adjust to the new life that comes down to living all day long inside a tiny single room house – with a bunk bed, refrigerator, stove and TV – in the Heliópolis favela, in the south zone of São Paulo.

“With this coronavirus thing, everyone suddenly had to remain inside, I had virtually nothing, I was unprepared. I had to send my two eldest children, 10 and 13 years old, to live with my aunt. And I am surviving on the basic basket that CUFA (Single Favela Central) gave me. If it were not for the donation, I don’t know how we would manage,” she laments, as she also shares the house with her mother and younger brother.

In addition to the basic food basket and hygiene products, since the start of the year, the unemployed woman has received a donation from her neighbors to pay the R$500 rent for the room she lives in, since the shanty she used to live in was destroyed by the heavy downpours earlier this year.

She also gets R$357 from the Family Grant program, to which she adds four child allowances. The twin babies have not yet been registered, because the Social Assistance Reference Center (CRAS) is closed due to the pandemic. In addition to not knowing how she will keep feeding the children, she also fears the Covid-19 pandemic itself.

“I’m very afraid that someone will get sick, the girls are newborns and I have a child with tuberculosis in the house,” she says.

So far, families like Elaine’s live on government promises. On March 25th, Governor João Doria announced the Home Meals program, which will grant families a benefit of R$55 per student to buy food.

The transfers will be provided as long as classes remain suspended and will be aimed at students whose families are paid the Family Grant and for those living in extreme poverty. The program is expected to start in April, but by April 7th there was no set date.

The situation is not exclusive to the wealthiest state in Brazil. In several cities, mayors and governors announce measures to distribute meals or food stamps. According to a study by the Abrinq Foundation, with data from the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), nine million people between the ages of 0 and 14 live in extreme poverty, some of them in a highly vulnerable situation that was growing during the slow economic rebound.

Despite the fact that three children studying in a state school are eligible to be granted the allowance, Elaine has not received any notice about the program from the State Department of Education or the educational institution.

“The only place I went to ask for help was at the City Hall Day Care Center. But since my daughters aren’t yet on the Family Grant, they said I won’t get any help,” Elaine said.

According to the São Paulo Municipal Department of Education, in order to ensure the feeding of children in vulnerable situations while the emergency situation persists due to the coronavirus pandemic, the City Hall will distribute “food stamps” to the families of 273,000 children enrolled in the municipal network in socially vulnerable situations and registered in the Family Grant Program.

The amounts charged on the food stamp vary according to each student’s school stage. For children in kindergartens, the amount will be R$101, for students of Early Childhood Education, R$63, and for Elementary School, the amount will be R$55. However, there is no estimate of when the transfers will begin.

The National Education Development Fund (FNDE), in charge of implementing the National School Meals Program (PNAE), said that with classes suspended indefinitely in much of the country, it is essential to ensure food and nutritional security for students, through the urgent use of preventive measures, control and containment of health risks in order to prevent the spread of the disease.

“However, in order to operate legally and with the sensibility that the situation demands, the FNDE depends on decisions of other instances, since the PNAE is governed by Law No. 11,947/2009. The municipality closely monitors all efforts to adjust the legislation to the reality of the moment. The PNAE’s updated regulation will be released soon, as soon as the new official legislation is published,” says the FNDE, which belongs to the Ministry of Education.

Emergency aid

In line with the promises, Elaine also expects emergency aid of R$600 sanctioned by President Jair Bolsonaro on April 2nd for low-income casual workers and the unemployed, to be granted during the crisis generated by the coronavirus pandemic.

The measure will initially last three months, but could be extended. The government expects that payments will be made from Thursday, April 9th, until the end of May.

As she is a beneficiary of the Family Grant, is registered in the Single Registry and is a single mother, Elaine should be paid two shares of the benefit, adding up to a sum of R$1,200. This money is vital to support the family at a time when the country’s economic activity is at a standstill and there are not many job offers available.

“If that is true at all, it would be a great help. I could even start renovating my shanty that was destroyed by the rain,” she explains.

Source: El Pais