Almost two million school children go hungry – survey

ALMOST two million South African pupils are not receiving school meals through the national school nutrition programme (NSNP) because of ongoing Covid-19 timetable rotations.

This was revealed in a recent survey conducted by civil rights organisations Equal Education (EE), Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) and SECTION27.

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The groups expressed concern that the NSNP, which feeds 9.6 million pupils, was not reaching children on the days when they are at home.

For many school children, this is the only meal they receive in a day.

The survey, conducted in five provinces during September, revealed that around 71 per cent of pupils were not receiving any meals on days at home.

About 98 of 125 participating pupils said schools did not provide transport for pupils residing far from school, with 62 pupils stating they know of other pupils in the community who are not getting meals.

In KZN alone, 81 per cent of the pupils who participated in the survey said they did not receive meals on days at home, with some stating there is no transport to collect meals.

KZN Department of Education spokesperson, Muzi Mahlambi, said all pupils should be getting fed since schools reopened in June.

‘Pupils do not have to travel long distances. They can go to any school in their area and collect food, even if they do not have classes on that day.

All schools should have enough supplies.’

King Cetshwayo education District Director, David Chonco, told the ZO that the NSNP was working well in the region.

‘We are still making it a priority to provide food to children in need. We have ensured that on days that they are not at school, transport is made available to get them to school so that they can pick up their meals. We have had no reported problems.’

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