Meals. Pupils of Kyambogo Primary School line up to get lunch. File Photo
Head teachers of four schools serving the ghetto communities in Kampala and are benefiting from a pilot school feeding programme, say they have registered increased enrolment and improved performance in Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE).
The four schools are East Kololo Primary School, Naguru Katali Primary School, Elite Junior and Nursery Primary School and Uganda Youth Aid Nursery and Primary School.
The schools teach pupils from the slums of Kamwokya, Naguru Go-down, Banda, Mutungo, Mbuya, Spear Motors, Giza Giza, Banda Kasokoso,Kiganda,Kirinya as well as Kito and Kirinya in Bweyogere, Wakiso District.
Head teachers attribute this positive change to a free lunch initiative started in 2019 by Sewa International Uganda, which provides meals to some of the most vulnerable children in these communities. The programme has become a powerful incentive, drawing in children who would otherwise not afford school.
“Most of our children here are orphans, those raised by single mothers, others are children of army veterans.
These are the poorest children in the community. The parents cannot afford to pay tuition of Shs20, 000 a term,” said William Cockman Kaggwa, the director of studies at Young Elite Junior School in Kirinya.
Kaggwa noted that the school, which was established in 2018, started with just 15 needy and orphaned children.
However, with the introduction of the feeding programme, enrolment surged to 206 pupils.
Similarly, Uganda Youth Aid Nursery and Primary School in Mbuya has seen its student population rise from 600 in 2018 to 950 today, according to Head Teacher Connie Nankya.
Ms Bernedette Aloyo, the head teacher East Kololo Primary School, stated that although they joined the programme in mid-2023, they have already observed positive changes.
She noted that before the programme, many of the 221 students were frequently unwell, and class attendance was irregular, despite parents making efforts to send their children to school.
However, since the programme began, they have noticed some students setting aside part of their lunch to take home and share with their siblings, indicating that food scarcity is also a challenge at home.
“I hope that the numbers will increase this term because I have already admitted 25 students. On Monday, I hope to receive more students. We cannot measure the impact yet because the programme started mid-year,” she said.
Justine Nampijja, the deputy head teacher of Naguru Katali Primary School, said school attendance increased from 868 in 2018 to 1,096 and dropout rates have declined.
Dr Sanjay Tripathi, the chairperson of Sewa International Uganda, stated that the initiative, was designed to help the poorest children focus on their education.
Over time, the programme has attracted more than 40 individual and corporate sponsors, each contributing Shs45,000 per term to feed a child each term.
“We are observing progressive performance each other year and the number of students is increasing. The results are positive indicators of the progressive performance. So far, we are feeding 4,000 ghetto youth and we hope that when the number of local donors increase, we shall enrol more schools,” he said.
Anil Patel, the executive chairperson of Grant Thornton Foundation Uganda, one of the companies sponsoring the feeding programme, said they were motivated to join the programme due to their proximity to East Kololo Primary School.
“Since we provide lunch to all our staff, we thought, why not extend this support to the students of the school as well? At Grant Thornton Uganda, we believe that no child should have to choose between hunger and education. The concept of providing food was born out of our commitment to addressing barriers to learning,” he said.
He explained that hunger negatively affects both attendance and academic performance.
The long-term goal, he said, is to create a sustainable model where schools can become self-reliant through initiatives like vegetable gardening, ensuring that hunger never becomes a barrier to education.
The Ramesh Babu, the chairman of Abacus Pharma, one of the major sponsors, revealed that the project initially started in 2017 with one school, in collaboration with the Indian Association of Uganda. As more sponsors joined, they expanded to four schools in Kampala and one in Jinja.
“We are happy with the programme.
The results are good and encouraging.
The schools, the parents and students are happy. We are also happy with the results, if we get more sponsors, we shall think of enrolling more schools,” he said.
FEEDING PROGRAMME
IN UPE SCHOOLS Universal Primary Education (UPE) is a government initiative in Uganda that was introduced in 1997 to provide free primary education to all children. The programme aims to increase access to education, reduce illiteracy, and promote equitable learning opportunities, especially for disadvantaged communities. Under UPE, the government covers tuition fees, but parents are still responsible for other costs such as meals, uniforms, and scholastic materials.
Challenges
One of the major challenges of UPE has been ensuring proper nutrition for learners. Many children from low-income families attend school without having meals, which affects their concentration and academic performance. In most cases, parents are encouraged to contribute food or money for meals.
However, in some districts, local governments and development partners support feeding initiatives by providing food supplies or funding school meals. Some schools have adopted community-led feeding programmes, where parents take turns preparing meals for students.
Despite these efforts, the feeding programme under UPE faces challenges such as inadequate funding, lack of clear policy enforcement, and food insecurity in certain areas. There have been calls for the government to fully take up the responsibility of feeding learners to improve attendance, retention, and performance in UPE schools.
