Pupils will now receive two meals a day with the school nutrition initiative. Image: iStock
Breakfast and lunch. These are the two meals that pupils in the North West Province will receive at school per day. This follows the local government’s implementation of the National School Nutrition Programme in the province.
The programme was introduced to mitigate the impact of poverty on pupils in economically depressed communities.
Operation Hunger reported that 42.0% intensity of poverty is an indication of the prevalence of malnutrition in the North West.
As such, the province – with the aid of several Corporate Social Investment (CSI) initiatives by the private sector – stepped in to feed more than 740 000 pupils through this initiative.
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North West Premier, Kaobitsa Bushy Maape, undertook a visit to Dingake Primary School near Lichtenburg. He did this to monitor progress registered in the implementation of the nutrition initiative.
Dingake Primary forms part of a cohort of 300 schools where the province introduced breakfast.
Premier Maape who was accompanied by MEC of Education Viola Motsumi as part of the province’s back to school campaign reported that he was pleased with the feedback he has received in the implementation of this programme.
“In 2023 I announced that learners in financially depressed communities will benefit from this nutrition programme which is serving two meals per day to 300 schools across the province.
“The feedback I have received in the implementation of this programme is satisfactory and to date we have not experienced any hiccups. The programme is in full swing and we are currently feeding over 740,000 pupils across the province” said Premier Maape.
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The Premier conveyed his appreciation for the private sector’s efforts in tackling the issue of poverty within this community, with a special focus on the school.
“I understand that various social partners and, in this regard, businesses have been assisting this school with poverty alleviation projects. This is commendable and I would like to urge others to do the same. We can only build our communities if we work together in addressing challenges of poverty and unemployment afflicting our people,” he said.
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