/ 7 July 1995

Bisho cuts primary school food schemes

Shadley Nash

Less than a week after the Eastern Cape government=20 repeated its promise that 1995 was the year of=20 delivery, it endorsed proposals that will take food out=20 of children’s mouths.

Cutbacks to the provincial government school feeding=20 schemes have been announced by the province’s Health=20 and Education Ministry in the face of acknowledgments=20 of corruption and maladministration.

By the next school term, up to “two million” children=20 in primary schools currently benefiting from the=20 feeding scheme could be affected, if the proposals,=20 endorsed by the province’s RDP Unit and the Education=20 Ministry, go through.

In a statement this week, Health and Education MEC Dr=20 Trudy Thomas’ department said overall “budget=20 constraints” forced the re-evaluation of the=20 government’s primary school feeding programme.

Ministry spokesman Khululekile Bata said in reports=20 that the programme currently benefited an estimated two=20 million children in 1 200 schools. He said=20 substantially less money was allocated to the programme=20 for this year’s budget than last year, slashing funds=20 from R179-million to R134-million.

The government proposes that feeding at schools=20 currently benefiting from the programme be changed in=20 the following manner: “That feeding will take place=20 twice weekly for all the pupils currently being fed; or=20 that feeding takes place thrice weekly for Sub A to Std=20 5 pupils or that all Sub As and Sub Bs be fed daily.”

The latest price on per head among rural children for a=20 meal of either bread, peanut butter and full cream=20 milk; or bread and “high protein soup”; or fortified=20 biscuits, is 65 cents for rural children, 15 cents more=20 than for their urban counterparts.

The Eastern Cape government has called for submissions=20 on these proposals to be made to Bisho in the next two=20 weeks. — Ecna