EC children endure near-constant hunger as National School Nutrition Programme dishes meagre portions

Children in the Eastern Cape are desperately hungry, and are not being fed enough at school.

The Department of Basic Education has a National School Nutrition Programme to provide learners with meals at schools. But some schools say the money they’re receiving is not enough. Sometimes they get less than the subsidy because learners without birth certificates are not counted in the allocation.

The official allocation from the Eastern Cape Department of Education per learner for one daily meal is R3.05 for primary schools, R3.65 for secondary schools, R7.35 for smaller schools and an additional 59c for breakfast for all schools in the 2023/24 financial year, according to spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima.

He said 1,359,419 learners were fed in the second quarter, at a cost of R408-million.

School meals in the nutrition programme must include protein, carbohydrates/starch and fresh fruit or vegetables, according to the Department of Basic Education’s website.

Mtima said schools had all received funding in accordance with the 2023-24 budget and no schools had reported not being able to feed learners because of lack of funds.

But Corene Conradie, Eastern Cape regional coordinator for Gift of the Givers, told GroundUp she recently visited a primary school receiving much less per learner per day than R3.05. The school, Toleni Primary near Butterworth, has about 120 learners.

Conradie said at schools she visits across the Eastern Cape, many can only serve small portions of pap. Sometimes schools give only a spoonful of food for a meal. Gift of the Givers is inundated with calls from schools for meat and vegetable donations to supplement their meals, she added.

“It is not enough per child,” Conradie said.

Research shows children who do not consume enough energy and nutrients are at risk of undernutrition, which has physical and intellectual effects.

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Nontuthulezo Dawedi, the principal of Mfundweni Primary School in Ngqeleni, said she also receives much less per learner per day for meals.

This is because some of their learners, who don’t have birth certificates, are not counted in the subsidy allocation.

That amount cannot cover sufficient food and the fuel needed to cook, both of which are expensive, she said.

“We need more funds, so we can buy more food,” she said. “The servings are not enough.”

Breakfast for the approximately 160 learners is always a small amount of cereal, served without milk. Lunch two days of the week includes protein in the form of soup packs or pilchard. The other three days, there is no protein served, Dawedi said.

“They come to school hungry,” she said. “And then since the food is not enough, they go home hungry. It affects them. They are not performing as they should.”

“In my classroom, out of 18 learners, six learners do not have birth certificates. And the fact that they do not have birth certificates also means that they are not getting the child support grant. Chances are, even at home there’s no food. Meaning that the child only gets one meal a day here at the school. That is the sad reality,” said the teacher.