Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister of Education): Today, I announced that 18 schools in Otago and Southland with 3,000 students are joining the programme. This is on top of the 42 schools that are already taking part. Across New Zealand, we'll be expanding free and healthy lunches to around 200,000 New Zealand schoolchildren by the end of next year. When fully implemented, one in four schoolchildren in New Zealand will receive a free and healthy school lunch every day. 