The Equal Education (EE) and Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) have raised their concerns about the nutrition of schoolchildren and that some schools haven’t received their entitled portion.
As of May 2, teams led by the KwaZulu-Natal Premier and MECs had visited 263 schools in the province, said Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga.
Motshekga, together with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education (KZNDOE), held a briefing on Tuesday (May 2) to discuss the ongoing issues surrounding the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP).
Equal Education communications manager Jay-Dee Cyster said the failure of the NSNP service provider, appointed by the KZN DOE, to adequately supply the necessary meals has meant that more than two million pupils in the province ‒ who depend on this lifesaving initiative ‒ have been left to go hungry while at school. Cyster said this was a gross violation of the pupils’ constitutional right to nutrition.
“Even though the rollout of the NSNP has not been perfect since the Covid-19 pandemic, the present hiccup in KZN is the most worrying. As the situation is being investigated, it is still unknown what is causing the province’s food supply to be interrupted. What is certain is that some caregivers are currently struggling to fill the gap left by pupils’ inability to access this crucial social protection,” Cyster said.
She said the NSNP’s significance could not be overstated because it fed more than nine million pupils every day of the school year.
“We therefore urge the department to act quickly to resolve the issue so that food delivery can resume to all qualifying pupils. While we welcome the interim action taken by the KZN DOE to prevent pupils in affected schools from going without food, the Department of Basic Education must move quickly with its investigation to guarantee it never occurs again. We will continue to monitor the situation to ensure that the NSNP is fully restored,” Cyster said.
Motshekga said the ministry was on course to provide a successful plan to ensure school children receivied their nutritional meals. She said the government had invested R9 billion on the programme annually.
“The provincial government of KwaZulu-Natal has also developed an online tool using geospatial technology that drives real time data into the KZN Information and Innovation Hub. Business Intelligence is used to draw analysis on the reports generated through the online tool. This is the tool that is being used by the Members of Executive Council and government officials as part of the monitoring and oversight process when they visit various schools to assess the implementation of the school feeding programme,” Motshekga said.