The school feeding program in Mumbwa District has increased enrollment levels and drastically reduced absenteeism amongst learners in all the schools where the programme is being implemented.
Mumbwa District Education Board Secretary Office focal person for the school feeding programme, Clarence Mutiti told ZANIS that the program which is being implemented in 166 schools in the district has improved both the enrollment and performance of pupils in schools.
Mr. Mutiti said the World Food Program (WFP) which supports the school feeding program has further helped to train teachers in seven schools to pilot the gardening projects which also supplements the already existing school feeding program.
A check at one of the schools in the district revealed that indeed enrollment in the year 2016 and 2017 increased from 435 to 475 at Moono Primary School which is located about 8 kilometers from Mumbwa town.
School Head Teacher, Samson Sakala explained that the school feeding program has attracted more pupils and has helped them to stay alert in class.
Mr. Sakala said Moono School which is one of the seven schools piloting the gardening project has seen the school pass rate go up but however could not give statistics for the previous year.
The World Food Program supports the school feeding program and also implements the Scale- Up Nutrition (SUN) pilot projects which has been funded by SUN fund.
WFP Program Associate, Christine M’hango disclosed that over US$393,000 has been spent on the SUN project which is being implemented in the four wards of Mumbwa District namely Nambala, Naluvwi, Nalubanda and Choma.
She noted that under the pilot project her organization works with the government line ministries to implement nutrition-related activities through the District Nutrition Coordinating Committees and its members.
She said the project which has about 1,600 beneficiaries employs community based approaches that include community mobilization, mother, infant and young child nutrition, nutrition education, school gardens and promotes production of nutritious foods and market access for farmers.
That’s how the colonial government used to encourage us attend school. Even the mines used a system called KU FEEDING where miners wives would go to the center to collect kapenta, beans, sugar, rice and mealie meal all measured according to the number of family members. Unip discontinued this as a demeaning act. The system helped curb cases of maltrition.
Problems started when welfare food ended up in markets.
Even these WFP yellow-maize and soya can be bought at Mumbwe markets.
#Nostradamus, you’re right. Even now donor money meant for programs like Aids prevention end up in pockets instead of the intended people. Recently one manager of an ngo committed suicide after squandering money for some program.
Studying or learning on an empty stomach is almost impossible, zero concentration! A filled belly with proper education will take these kids far.
Every one knows the importance of food.We are struggling as a nation because our priorities are upside down.The moment we take food production and reduce food wastage seriously,that will be the beginning of poverty eradication.
That will be the pivotal point in many areas of our national development. People will spend less time foraging and instead on creating ideas. Their confidence will soar and so will be their performance. Self deprecating remarks such as “twalibelela, so chabe, mulungu mwine ndiye aziba, malinga kwacha, fikaisova, etc., will be less frequent and less audible.
I am sure even the Teacher attendance has also improved…this is all UN funding don’t be duped by lazy Lungu and tins!!
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Enrolment, not enrollment, please.