KZN school nutrition still under a cloud
Opposition parties say they are still concerned about the KwaZulu-Natal government’s handling of the school nutrition programme after challenges earlier in the year saw thousands of school children go without meals.
Last week Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube told a media briefing that since the intervention by relevant government departments the system has stabilised, and every child has been fed in schools.
The premier said that feeding will continue in some schools over the holidays.
The IFP’s education spokesperson, Thembeni Madlopha-Mthethwa, said that the school nutrition programme is still under a cloud.
“The system has improved since earlier this year but not to the expected standard. We requested that local providers be appointed earlier in the year but there were no new tender adverts.
We also requested the results of the investigations but have not received any feedback.”
Madlopha-Mthethwa said it was a good idea for school children to be fed during school holidays but there was no clarity on how this would be done.
“This is just a dream. Teachers monitor nutrition programmes and they are on holiday. The food handlers are not working and service providers were requested to provide food only on school days.”
ActionSA’s provincial chairperson Zwakele Mncwango said that the school nutrition programme is a crucial issue in the province.
“It was a great concern when many pupils were not getting their meals, with our economic climate this is the only meal that they are receiving for the day. We welcome the news that challenges have been addressed and pupils are getting their meals.
“However, we want to see a more sustained plan from the KZN government and we do not want to see problems like this again.”
Mncwango welcomed the idea of feeding children during school holidays but called for more clarity.
“It’s a good idea but we as ActionSA need to see a transparent plan from the government on how it will work, the cost of it, who will supervise and how many children will be fed.
“We call for any other issues to be resolved so that there will be no issues in the food nutrition programme when school resumes in 2024.”
DA KZN education spokesperson, Dr Imran Keeka, said that the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) Grant is one that should be fully spent and no savings should be realised.
“If there are savings, then it means that the recipients – the most vulnerable children have been wronged. At the end of the school year there were no reports of any dysfunction of the NSNP with delivery being adequate to all participating schools.”
Keeka added that one district was piloting, to the delight of the learners, the addition of chicken livers to the menu.
“This has already been done in other provinces with KZN trying to catch up after the collapse of the programme.” Keeka said that children should be fed through this programme even when the schools are closed.
A principal from a school in the province said that the school nutrition programme is back on course and there were no issues before schools closed.
“We were able to feed pupils in the latter part of the year but we will not be feeding them during the school holidays. Any left over food was given to pupils that most needed it. We will resume the programme in 2024.”
Dube-Ncube said that the executive council received a report on the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP). “The executive council was pleased to note that since the interventions that were led by the Office of the Premier, the National Department of Basic Education and other relevant stakeholders, the system stabilised, and every child has been fed.”
Dube-Ncube added that this NSNP will continue to provide nutritious meals to 2 477 132 learners in 5 436 schools throughout the province, at a value of approximately R2.09 billion.
“Even during school holidays some learners are able to go to the schools where they are able to get food even though they’re not at school.”
The Mercury