Government orders parents to feed pupils
Feeding. Pupils of Kyambogo Primary School line up for lunch recently. The Education ministry has asked parents to contribute meals for their children while at school. PHOTO BY RACHEL MABALA
What you need to know:
- Kololo SS head teacher Edward Kanoonya reported that parents at his school agreed to make a termly contribution of Shs140,000 to support the children while at school to pay for utilities and food.
- The Food and Agriculture Organisation senior programme officer, Ms Beatrice Okello, asked government to improve the nutritional content of the food children eat while at school.
KAMPALA. The Education ministry has directed parents and guardians to ensure their children are fed while at school by contributing money or food rations to their respective institutions.
This follows last year’s strategic review by National Planning Authority report on Uganda’s Sustainable Development Goal two, which showed that about seven children in every 10 school going learners do not get a meal while at school.
“We are emphasising full involvement of parents and guardians in the feeding of their children. Parents can provide home packed food and other forms of contribution; financial or in kind such as time, physical food and labour,” Mr Robinson Nsumba Lyazi, the director Basic Education, said yesterday.
State minister of Education Chrysostom Muyingo said they are planning to put school feeding on the national political agenda as a topic linked to national development.
“While the government was making strides to ensure education services reach everyone, the lack of adequate school feeding in schools is mostly due to failure of parents to meet their responsibilities of feeding their children,” Mr Muyingo said yesterday during the African Day of School Feeding celebrations at Kololo Secondary School.
Kololo SS head teacher Edward Kanoonya reported that parents at his school agreed to make a termly contribution of Shs140,000 to support the children while at school to pay for utilities and food.
In return, he said they have witnessed fewer cases of theft, reduced visits to sickbay and the students’ urge to escape from school after they introduced compulsory feeding three years back.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation senior programme officer, Ms Beatrice Okello, asked government to improve the nutritional content of the food children eat while at school.
The government has set up a committee chaired by Mr Nsumba-Lyazi and deputised by Dr Kedrace Turyagyenda, the director Directorate of Education Standards to oversee the implementation of the school feeding programme.
