Government initiated the schools feeding programme whereby
schools are given grain which they process into maize meal and beans to prepare
meals for learners.
Some schools had added value and sourced different kinds of
relish to complement the allocation. However, the programme was abruptly
suspended this year and Primary and Secondary Education Minister Dr Evelyn
Ndlovu told education experts and partners in Victoria Falls that this was
because of corruption in the procurement processes but the programme is making
a comeback.
Minister Ndlovu was responding to concerns by delegates who
attendant the week-long Strategic Choices for Education Reform in Eastern and
Southern Africa meeting in Victoria Falls.
The meeting started last week on Saturday and ended
yesterday.
It was hosted by the World Bank and Global Partnership for
Education and was attended by education directors and Permanent Secretaries
from Eastern and Southern Africa, including education partners.
Delegates visited six schools in and around Victoria Falls
where they commended the country’s education approach but expressed concern on
the lack of feeding programmes.
Mr Phathugwalo Masuku, the headmaster of Chamabondo Primary
School said during a visit to the school that there are some learners who
needed to be fed as lack of food was affecting their performance.
“We cannot feed the children on a daily basis because of
budgetary constraints. It is true that we have some learners who cannot come to
school well-nourished and that is affecting their performance in class. We wish
the feeding programme can be resuscitated so that learners get at least a meal
per day at school,” he said.
The feeding initiative is one of the strategies Government
is initiating to enhance education for all, making sure no pupil misses class
due to hunger.
At Chamabondo, the school was using its in-house bio
digester recycling project run by learners to provide energy for cooking meals
for its feeding programme.
Responding to the concerns, Minister Ndlovu said Government
suspended the programme to bring sanity but it is bringing it back.
“As for the schools feeding programme, we had a challenge
with procurement, that’s why we haven’t started giving maize. People were charging
too much and the Ministry of Finance said we can’t charge using black market
rates. Now that we are coming back to normal schools will resume feeding
programmes,” she said.
In some communities the private sector chipped in to help
Government with school feeding.
During the Covid-19 period, the private sector in Victoria
Falls extended the programme to all members of the community including school
pupils and school leavers as well as other deserving families.
At some point more than 1 000 meals were served each day by
the Victoria Falls taskforce.
0 comments:
Post a Comment