One hundred days after former President Nelson Mandela took office, he launched a number of development programmes in an attempt to kick-start the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP).
The RDP was a broad policy outline, promising development in the previously disadvantaged sectors of the country - the Primary Schools Nutrition Programme was one of these programmes. It was started in the context of an educational and nutritional crisis in South Africa, especially in the rural areas where there was no culture of learning and low attendance at schools.
Fast forward to nearly 20 years.
The programme - which is now known as the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) - is changing the face of the education system across the country. Over eight million learners in 21 467 public schools are now benefitting from the programme. Over 54 000 volunteers prepare and serve the meals.
The NSNP has been transformed from a simple cold meal to a daily hot, cooked meal; all learners in a particular school are now benefitting rather than just targeting the poorest learners and in 2009 the programme was expanded to include secondary schools.
The grant for the programme has increased from by R2 666 million in 2013/14, to R5 173 billion and the department estimates that it will reach R5 704 billion in 2015/16 financial year.
In Gauteng alone, the programme provided nutrition to a total of 1051 362 learners and in the last financial year it was successfully extended to all 1 256 no-fee schools in the province.
One of these schools is the Tane Primary School, a semi-rural area just outside Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria.
About 900 of the 1010 learners from the school come early in the morning, eager not only to get an education, but for some their only meal for the day.
One such learner is *Lefense who, together with her sibling, makes sure they are at school before 7am so that she can get their share of the soft porridge in the morning.
Lefense says that sometimes she would come to school hungry. “I would sometimes get dizzy because I was hungry…but the food allows me to wake up in class so I can learn.”
When SAnews visited the school just after 9am on a Monday morning, the volunteers who are also unemployed parents of learners at the school had already finished preparing the food for the day.
The aroma of soup fills the air as volunteers get ready to feed the foundation phase learners.
Volunteer Helen Kekana, 33, says the volunteers arrive at the school as early as 6:30am to start preparing because the learners are always early.
“Raining or not, the children line up… I would say the meals have improved their love for education and plays a big role in the way they perform,” said Kekana, as she stacks metallic plates in a wheelbarrow and heads out of the makeshift kitchen and in to the school yard.
The school supplements their NSNP grant with a vegetable garden. This provides needy learners with food parcels and the children gain skills in growing crops.
Kekana says the programme has also led to jobs being created. “Before this I was unemployed, but now I have a stipend of R840 I can use to take care of my family.
“I would love to go further in this job. Perhaps the department can introduce food handling courses for us to attend so that when our one year contract ends, we can apply for other jobs elsewhere.”
Moments after the clock strikes 10am - learners from the foundation phase line up in an orderly queue and are one-by-one handed a steaming plate of rice covered with split peas and soya soup. The learners politely say thank you.
Because there is no designated eating area, the pupils line up in the corridor while others stand as they eat.
*Ofense, a Grade 3 learner, rapidly spoons the rice and soup in her mouth, hardly containing her eagerness.
She tells me that if it wasn’t for the food she gets at school, she would simply go hungry. “Only my father works, so there isn’t always enough food at home. This food is nice and gives me energy,” says Ofense.
Grade 3 teacher at the school, Maria Sekhu, says the common adage that “a child cannot learn on an empty stomach” rings true at the school. Over the years the programme has not only helped improve students’ performance, but also made them healthier.
“Some children come to school because they know that this where they will get their meal for the day … if a child misses the soft porridge in the morning - I can see the difference,” says Sekhu.
She explains their concentration is limited and they get tired.
“It is difficult to teach a student who is dozing off because of hunger. But because of this programme, I can say malnutrition in this school is being stamped out.”
Principal George Maremo says the NSNP has clearly had a positive impact on the lives of learners, but there were ways in which it could improve.
“There has been an increase in the school attendance, concentration levels and the social as well as physical participation of learners in school-related activates has improved. Over the years, the level of absenteeism has dropped.
“However the programme also has a few areas where it can improve. For example, the provision of NSNP infrastructure at schools - providing kitchen facilities and other equipment - would go a long way and it would help us monitor the learners better.”
He highlighted the challenge with the food suppliers which he said sometimes delivered the food late.
“The non-delivery or delays in the delivery of the food puts a strain in the system,” he said, suggesting that the department must put in place a tight system is to monitor the supply of food.
The faces of the learners at this school outside Hammanskraal do not deny the importance of this nutrition programme.
Thinking back to its beginnings, I wonder if Mandela would have ever imagined his initiative, to reach impoverished households in such an important way, would have touched so many small lives two decades on. – SAnews.gov.za
*parents’ permission was not granted for use of real names
