TEENAGERS will be given compulsory cooking lessons at school for the first time.

The government wants all pupils to know how to make a healthy meal and Schools Secretary Ed Balls is asking the public to suggest which dishes children should learn to cook.

But the emphasis will be on making sure pupils can master simple, healthy recipes using fresh ingredients.

From this September, every 11-14 year-old in the 85 per cent of schools currently offering food technology classes will be taught practical cookery.

The remaining secondaries will be expected to teach the compulsory classes by 2011.

Mr Balls wants the public to suggest the dishes to be taught. They must be healthy, easy to prepare and the kind of meals that teenagers will want to eat. He is asking anyone with suggestions to email the government.

The announcement comes as part of the government's obesity strategy Mr Balls will launch with Health Secretary Alan Johnson tomorrow.

Mr Balls said: "Teaching kids to cook healthy meals is an important way school scan help produce healthy adults."

The 15 per cent of schools that do not offer food technology classes tend to be all-boys' schools and former boys-only schools.

But ministers believe this is an unacceptable throw-back to the days of gender stereotyping.

The new secondary curriculum strongly emphasises practical cooking skills, and will also include diet and nutrition, hygiene and safety and wise food shopping.

Mr Balls said that unless action was taken now, the country would have `real problems' with obesity in the coming decades.

"If we can make sure that people are all learning to cook the basics, then maybe they can take that home and infuse some of that into their home environment, then that can make a real difference to the healthiness of our society."

But headteachers criticised the plan.

John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "Just six months ago, ministers promised heads greater flexibility in the curriculum.

"More decisions about what to teach would be made at school level, they said.

"Now they have fallen at the first fence, creating another entitlement and more compulsion.

"As many of us said at the time, the government should never have downgraded practical cookery 20 years ago. In the intervening years, schools have been built or refurbished without practical cookery rooms.

"It will be impossible for about 15 per cent of schools to put practical cookery on the timetable until they have the proper facilities.

"There is also a shortage of cookery teachers."

The Government began an overhaul of school dinners three years ago after TV chef Jamie Oliver campaigned against the poor quality ingredients being served in canteens.

The email address for the consultation is: getcooking. consultation@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk

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