Educationists poke holes in govt’s plan to feed learners
December 19, 2024 by Monitor Team
What you need to know:
Poor feeding has been identified as one of the drivers of school dropouts in the country, especially in rural areas.
Educationists and opinion leaders have expressed mixed reactions over the government’s plan to roll out a national feeding programme in public primary schools, with some casting doubt on its success.
On December 5, in Kampala, the Education Minister and First Lady, Ms Janet Museveni, gave an update on the implementation of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) manifesto progress report. She said her ministry had approved proposals to include school feeding in the National Budget for 2025/2026.
If the government were to adopt a rate of private schools, it would spend Shs3,000 per learner daily, of which Shs1,000 goes to breakfast and Shs2,000 for lunch. Since all Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools are mandated to run only the day section, Shs2,000 would be foregone. This means a school with 800 learners would require Shs216 million for feeding over a 90-day term.
Scaling this to the 12,551 primary schools, the government would need Shs2.7 trillion annually. But Mr Vincent Asiimwe, the head teacher of Masaka Primary School in Ntoroko District, is sceptical about the government’s proposal to feed learners in public schools.
“Previously, the government pledged to provide items such as sanitary pads for girls and mathematical sets but none of these have been delivered to schools to date; how sure are we that they will implement this latest proposal?” he wondered in an interview on Monday.
Source : https://bit.ly/4gz9NYM