Half of Venezuela’s Children Not Getting 3 Meals a Day

Amid the ongoing economic crisis induced by the global oil shock, half of Venezuela’s school children are receiving at most two meals a day. Food shortages are imperiling students’ ability and concentrate in school.

Research firm More Consulting finds that 50 percent of parents are feeding their children less than three meals a day as a result of the country’s chronic food shortages. The problem has become more acute as the country plans to begin the school year Monday.

“In June, practically half [of my students] were not attending school because the families had to choose between spending money on transport or food,” Juan Maragall, who oversees 700 public schools in the state of Miranda, told The Telegraph.

“When your stomach is empty you’re thinking about your hunger, not about what you’re being taught,” said Edidd de Villegas, “I’ve faith that this [crisis] will end but if we continue this way in five years we’ll have five students per class instead of 30.”

The crisis has stressed more than the country’s food supply — photographs of newborn babies being kept in cardboard boxes at the hospital IVSS Guzman Lander in Barcelona, Venezuela recently went viral on the internet.