Officials push for parent-led school feeding programmes

“Some parents have settled in productive areas and can produce food such as maize, beans, and sweet potatoes. So, we encouraged the parents that when their children go to school, they should pack food for them. That is how we are addressing the issue of school feeding in Karamoja,” Mr Lotee said on Friday during the third National Nutrition Forum in Kampala.

Likewise, Mr Charles Asiimwe, a nutrition consultant, said in western Uganda, a similar parent-led approach is being applied.

“Parents have a responsibility to contribute towards feeding their children at school and the foods should be nutritious. Sometimes, when parents are asked to contribute towards the school feeding of their children, they claim extortion,” Mr Asiimwe said.

He continued: “What we have done in western Uganda is that we met the head teachers and the parents, and agreed on which type of feeding method we were to adopt and zeroed down on the parent-led.”

The Unicef representative, Dr Munir A Safieldin, said as nutrition partners, they will offer support aimed at improving nutrition such as addressing the human resource gaps, technical support, reducing child stunting and wasting, and food system transformation.

Third Deputy Prime Minister Rukia Nakadama, who closed the week-long forum, wondered why there are stunted children in the country despite being blessed with two rainy seasons in the year.

The Uganda Education Act, 2008, gives the responsibility of feeding children while at school to parents and guardians.

The parent/guardian-led school feeding programme encourages parents to voluntarily send children to school with food.

In 2015, the Ministry of Education and Sports launched guidelines for school feeding programmes.

The move by the government to launch the school feeding programme followed a strategic review by the National Planning Authority report that showed that about seven children in every 10 schools do not get meals while at school.

However, some parents argue that it is costly to contribute towards the school feeding programme given the poverty that they are in.

In most cases, a parent is required to contribute five kilogrammes of beans and another 10 kilogrammes of maize flour for each of their children.

Govt guidelines
The Ministry of Education and Sports guidelines for school feeding programmes state that feeding and nutrition are necessary in schools since they have been known to promote and improve physiological growth, school enrolment, learning, and overall cognition.

Other benefits include improved community participation, classroom concertation, and children’s in-class performance.