Compulsory cooking classes for English kids

Cooking lessons will be made compulsory for English teenagers from the start of the next academic year as part of a battle to cut spiralling levels of obesity, the government announced Tuesday.

Boys and girls aged between 11 and 14 will have to attend the classes from September and will learn to cook eight classic healthy British favourites, including roast chicken and shepherd's pie.

Education Secretary Ed Balls, who made the announcement, told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "Teaching kids to cook healthy meals is an important way schools can help produce healthy adults."

"My mum was passionate about all this and bought me my first Delia Smith book," he said, referring to a popular television chef.

Balls, who has asked the public to suggest other dishes pupils could be taught to cook, told BBC radio that the nation would have "real problems" with obesity in the coming years unless the issue was tackled.

But refurbished or newly-built schools might not have the necessary kitchens, says heads' union leader John Dunford.

There is also a shortage of staff qualified to teach cookery, he says.