The National School Nutritional Programme, which was introduced by Nelson Mandela in 1994, aims to provide children from underprivileged schools with the opportunity to have at least one substantially nutritious meal every school day.
The National School Nutritional Programme, which was introduced by Nelson Mandela in 1994, aims to provide children from underprivileged schools with the opportunity to have at least one substantially nutritious meal every school day.
The programme serves more than six million children. Recently the new provincial menus were approved and released for 2010/2011 and will operate on a R702-million budget.
Focussing on the Eastern Cape, primary schools and secondary schools receive the same meals, which mainly consist of soya bean products, vegetables and carbohydrates, with one day a week dedicated to providing fish (pilchard stew) for the children. The daily meal recommended for primary school children is about 160 grams of food while secondary school children need 220 grams.
The meals are to be served by 10am, with the exception of the province of Gauteng, which will provide breakfast at 7am as well as lunch at 11am. This programme is extremely beneficial as some of the children are not able to eat a good meal if they are not at school.
A cause for concern is that the meals are predominantly vegetarian. According to online dieticians on www.beefnutrition.org, eliminating meat such as beef from the diet increases risks for deficiencies of vitamin B12, iron and zinc. Some dieticians have found that a vegetarian diet contains less zinc than a diet including some meat. Zinc is an essential nutrient aiding children during growth and according to dieticians from www.buzzle.com, eating soya products daily prevents the immediate absorption of zinc, iron and and other minerals into the body.
Media Liason for the EC Education Department, Sisa Sityata, said that the meals do however contain all the necessary nutrients that children need, adding that there is room for improvement with the number of meals that a child should be eating. "At the moment, the one meal may only be enough to sustain them for that part of the day," said Sityata.
The new goals of the programme will make a big difference. As opposed to targeting the poorest learners in schools, every child will now be fed in the designated schools. The initial 156 day feeding schedule will now be extended so that meals are provided every school day of the year.
Schools involve Volunteer Food Handlers (VFHs), usually women who live in the community, to prepare and serve food to the children, while cleaning dirty utensils and maintaining a clean preparation area. The importance of washing hands before and after meals is also much emphasised. VFHs are appointed by the School Governing Bodies (SGBs) and receive monthly wages.
After being appointed, the NSNP provide training on food safety. To keep to acceptable hygiene standards, VFHs are required to wear light coloured protective clothing such as aprons and head gear.
It is through the dedication and commitment of VFHs that learners receive their meals on time. Due to the number of children that need to be fed, it is hard to keep track of exactly how nutrition programmes impact on individual learners.
According to an online brochure from the Basic Education website (www.education.gov.za) learners could sometimes miss out on a meal while others may not be finish the whole meal. This naturally affects the accurate recording of data and it also means that there is the risk that some learners could fall between the cracks.
These problems have led the Limpopo Education Department to request educators to assist volunteer parents to serve the portions at each meal, ensuring that all learners received a meal and sit down in their classrooms together to enjoy it. The truth is that any meal is better than no meal and the children will be able to work, think and play better on a full stomach.
