- The School Nutrition Programme in the Western Cape is set to continue while schools are closed.
- Education lobby group Equal Education raised concerns about the programme being halted and leaving thousands of children hungry.
- New directives that were gazetted by the Department of Basic Education states schools must make the necessary arrangements to continue to provide meals until next Friday.
The School Nutrition Programme is expected to continue while schools are closed amidst rising Covid-19 infections. New directives that were gazetted by the Department of Basic Education this week states schools must make the necessary arrangements to continue providing meals until next Friday.
Education lobby group Equal Education had urged the department to urgently intervene to ensure meals are still provided to pupils as per a court order last year.
“Many learners’ families are facing severe financial hardship due to the Level-4 lockdown measures, and the need for school meals are greater than ever,” Equal Education warned.
The organisation highlighted that if schools remain closed for longer than the planned winter holidays due to the third wave, pupils will be bearing the brunt.
“It is crucial that the provincial education department plans to resume the National School Nutrition Programme,” it added.
The @DBE_SA has previously committed to providing school meals to learners during unanticipated periods of school closure due to #Covid19. This is what was ordered by the High Court on 17 July 2020 in the NSNP court case (@SECTION27news @EElawcentre). https://t.co/kNPjH1Kv8C
— Equal Education (@equal_education) June 28, 2021
Last year the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria granted an order to roll out the National School Nutrition Programme. Equal Education went to court on an urgent basis to ask for a declaratory order forcing the Department of Basic Education to feed all eligible children irrelevant of whether they have returned to school or not. The nutrition programme was suspended when schools closed during the hard lockdown in 2020.
Once schools reopened for certain grades in June last year only some pupils benefited.
In the Western Cape, the provincial Department of Education said contingency plans are in place to feed learners. Departmental spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said schools have been informed that schools on the National School Nutrition Programme must ensure that feeding is taking place in the week of 5-9 July.
“The [normal] feeding will resume when schools reopen. This is in line with the directions that have been published. Learners that are normally recipients of the National School Nutrition Programme, and are not attending school, can go to their nearest feeding school on a daily basis to collect food. This traditionally applies to learners that are from commuter schools,” she added.