French students line up for food bank
In France, there’s a huge demand for food parcels by students. A fifth of them are said to be living below the poverty line. French student unions want the government to provide more help.
In November, the Macron government allocated 10 million euros for 300 thousand food parcels to students. But more is needed, argues the French umbrella of student unions to French news platform Euronews. Every day in Paris alone, at least 500 parcels are involved. According to the aid organisation Linkee, a recent survey showed that 55 per cent of students in need do not eat enough.
According to the umbrella organisation, students spend half their income on housing and suffer from large price increases. One in five lives below the poverty line, and among those living away from home, the proportion is said to be even higher.
In the Netherlands, the national student organisations LSVb and ISO also received signals that students go to the food bank for help. But according to the criteria of Voedselbanken Nederland, they do not qualify because “they are supposed to be able to support themselves with study grants, their part-time job and/or monetary support from their parents”. However, exceptions are sometimes made, for example for students with children. (HOP, PvT)
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