The ManicaPost
Lovemore Kadzura Rusape Correspondent
THE Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and stakeholders such as teacher representative unions have hailed the national feeding programme launched early this year, saying it has made significant impact in schools.
The $200 million National Feeding Programme was introduced during the second term this year to address food security and nutritional issues on school going pupils.
President Mugabe had in February declared a national disaster in response to the devastating effects of the El Nino-induced drought which resulted in very poor harvests.
Due to hunger, there were massive drop-outs, absenteeism and malnutrition among pupils in schools especially in rural areas.
Launching the feeding programme for Makoni District recently at Chiwetu Primary School, Manicaland Provincial Education Director, Mr Edward Shumba, who was represented by his deputy, Mrs Clara Kanoyerera, said the programme had managed to mitigate the negative effects of drought on learning as enrolment had stabilised in schools.
“The National Feeding Programme targets learners from five to eight years, particularly in rural schools to ensure that they at least get a decent meal at school each day. The target group comprises learners from ECD A to Grade 2, these are infants.
“The aim of the programme is to mitigate the effects of the 2015/2016 drought which affected harvest. It is there to improve the pupils’ nutrition and alleviate short term hunger. This programme also fosters better quality education through improved attendance and retention. The feeding at schools provides an incentive for children to attend school and this reduce school drop outs.
“Research done by psychologists and nutritionists has proved that cognitive development of this group and learners can be permanently damaged by malnutrition. The effects are drastic and irreversible. Lack of protein in infants’ diet results in poor brain and physical development. This often results in learners dropping out of school and lack of concentration and school work, said Mr Shumba.
Speaking at the same occasion, Makoni District Administrator, Mr William Mashava, said Government was mobilising resources to cater for all primary school pupils.
He also implored parents to work hand in hand with school authorities so that the programme progresses well without glitches.
“Government of Zimbabwe as a matter of policy and principle will not let its people die of hunger. That is why we launched this programme as a matter of urgency. We are still harnessing more resources so that every primary pupil get a hot meal at least once a day served at school.
The programme will soon cascade to urban and privately owned schools so that every child is catered for. The major challenge we are facing is that of relish and labour, so we are imploring parents and guardians to provide relish and free labour,” he said.
Zimbabwe Rural Teachers Union welcomed the feeding programme, saying it had managed to alleviate dire situations which were being experienced in rural schools.
ZRTU president, Mr Martin Chaburumunda, said although the impact of the feeding was being felt, there was need to cover all primary school pupils. He said as educators they were finding it difficult to teach hungry and malnourished pupils.
“Before the National Feeding Programme was launched, there were massive drop-outs in schools as parents were not comfortable with sending hungry children to school. To us the teachers, it is very difficult to extract the best out of a hungry pupil. This changed when the feeding programme was introduced, but the major issue now is that it is only available for infants leaving other grades vulnerable,” he said. .
