Some parents at a primary school in Tilburg are up in arms after the head teacher banned all soft and fizzy drinks and said children must drink water, the AD said on Friday.

School lunch boxes are also now restricted to sandwiches and fruit. Other drinks and foodstuffs are being confiscated and returned to the child with a note at the end of the day, the paper said.

The aim, the school head Ludy Meister told the paper, is to encourage children to eat healthily and the policy has been drawn up together with the local health board. In addition, the school’s parents committee voted in favour of the plan.

But father Kevin Rovers told the AD his son came home crying because he does not like drinking water. ‘And I don’t make him,’ Rovers said. ‘Water is for dogs… you can’t force a child to drink water if they don’t like it. What if the temperature goes up to 30 degrees? Is he supposed to dehydrate?’

The government-backed food advisory centre Voedingscentrum in 2016 welcomed the decision by dozens of primary schools to ban sugary drinks on their premises, saying the measure will help cut obesity among children.

The organisation says pupils in primary schools should be restricted to water and milk with their packed lunches in an effort to boost healthy eating.