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LONDON - COOKERY lessons will be made a compulsory part of the British school curriculum for every student aged between 11 and 14, as part of government plans to combat obesity.
From September, every student in the 85 per cent of schools currently offering food technology classes will be taught practical cookery for an hour a week for a single term to ensure they know how to prepare a healthy meal.
The remaining 15 per cent of secondary schools will have to teach the classes by 2011.
Those pupils who will initially miss out on the classes are likely to be from all-boys schools that do not teach food technology.
'It's not going to be just the technology of food, it will be how you can use simple ingredients, simple recipes, so that children and young people can be prepared for adult life,' Schools Secretary Ed Balls said yesterday.
He said he has asked members of the public to come up with 'top eight' classic dishes that pupils should be taught, the Telegraph reported.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families said the emphasis will be on making sure pupils can master simple, healthy recipes using fresh ingredients.
It also hopes to teach teenagers how to prepare a handful of simple dishes, which will build on their culinary skills in later life and develop a healthier diet and lifestyle.
The Children's Food Campaign - a coalition of more than 50 health organisations, teachers' unions, children's charities and others welcomed the government proposal but critics immediately pointed to the shortage of food technology teachers.
But Mr Balls said 800 cookery teachers will be trained over the next three years, and agreed with health campaigners who say that the new policy should have been introduced years ago.
Ms Clarissa Williams of the National Association of Head Teachers also voiced concern about how schools will get all the necessary resources.
'Cookers, microwaves, all of the utensils, all of that costs a lot of money. There's also the expectation that the children will bring the ingredients and, for some, that could be difficult,' she told BBC Radio Four.
But the news was welcomed by most.
Ms Prue Leith, the new head of the government's programme to improve school meals, said: 'If we had done this 30 years ago, we might not have the (obesity) crisis we have now,' the cook, restaurateur and food writer told Radio 4's Today programme.
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who has been involved in a high-profile campaign to improve the quality of school dinners, told the Daily Mirror: 'It's of the utmost importance that all kids learn to cook good food from scratch and shop well.'
UK obesity levels have grown by 400 per cent in 25 years, with three-quarters of adults now classed as overweight or obese, the Telegraph has reported.
Latest figures show that by the age of 11, 15 per cent of girls and 19 per cent of boys are obese.
About 40 per cent of children with one obese parent end up obese themselves.
This rises to 75 per cent if both parents are seriously overweight.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
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