School feeding programme nourishes young minds

Rumbidzayi Zinyuke

Senior Reporter

In the searing heat of the Binga sun, a group of young boys enthusiastically head to class.

Oblivious of the long distance they have just walked from the village to school, the children are just eager for the lessons to start.

Two of the boys, who recently returned to Bunsiwa Primary School, seem happy to be reunited with their friends.

Shortage of food had driven them away from the classroom.

But the introduction of the emergency school feeding programme brought them back,  faces beaming with a new-found hope.

“Last season most people in Binga district did not harvest much from the fields because of the drought. So nine learners left this school. Four of them transferred to other schools and the other five have been at home. We introduced the school feeding programme last term. At the beginning of this term, we received 10 students, including the four who had transferred to other schools,” Mr Josias Mungombe Zibeni, the head of Bunsiwa Primary School said.

Daily attendance is now 100 percent and for the new school with an enrolment of 240, and chances are, more children will register as learners.

The school is now introducing a nutrition garden as well as chicken projects to complement the feeding programme.

Informed by the results of the 2024 Zimbabwe Livelihood Assessment, the emergency school feeding programme is crucial in addressing food insecurity which has affected more than seven million Zimbabweans with the aim to improve the educational outcomes of children.

Government, through the National Food and Nutrition Security committee is moving to ensure that the initiative is rolled out across all provinces.

This is being done through the multi-sectoral sub-national committees which are working with schools and communities.

On its part, Government through the GMB, is distributing maize meal to schools under this programme with the aim of ensuring that all learners get at least one hot meal per day.

But the impact of the school feeding programme extends beyond just satisfying hunger.

The children are getting some of the nutrients that were missing in their diets to enable them to develop at a much better rate.

Statistics show that about one third of the children in Zimbabwe aged between three and four years are considered to be developmentally off-track.

This means that they are not developing as expected according to the World Health Organisation’s developmental milestones in terms of their literacy and numeracy skills, physical, social and emotional skills and their learning skills.

At least 27 percent of children in the country are also stunted, meaning they do not get good enough nutrition early in life to ensure that they grow in height as expected for their age. Children who are stunted by the age of two are unlikely to ever recover that lost height and will remain stunted for life.

Poor nutrition also affects brain development, and children who are stunted also have poor brain development.

Binga district is one such area where some children are suffering from malnutrition.

Ministry of Health and Child Care hospital food services supervisor Mr Cowen Mucheki said schools in the district were being capacitated to address the food and nutrition deficit.

“We did a study where we were assessing the nutritional status of the whole district in schools, then we found out many were malnourished and also class participation to pass rate was actually low.

“We also tested for haemoglobin and we found out that their blood level was low so that is why we are giving iron folic acid tablets so that we boost their blood level. We are trying to capacitate most schools by providing technical support on how to manage young children in terms of nutrition by identifying the signs and symptoms of malnutrition. We also educate them on how best they can alleviate such a situation through this school feeding programme where we provide one hot meal per day,” he said.

The school feeding programme targets a four-star diet which includes proteins, vitamins, minerals and a starch in each meal.

Schools are being encouraged to introduce nutrition gardens to ensure they have a variety of food for the learners.

In Binga, about 79 schools are already providing one hot meal per day to learners under the Government programme while others are being supported by development partners to provide porridge and other food stuffs.

While schools are doing their part, the villagers are also being capacitated through Village Health Workers to identify malnutrition early to ensure those who are not in school are not left out.

The impact of the school feeding programme extends far beyond the immediate provision of food. It is a cornerstone of the Government’s commitment to early childhood development.

The programme aligns with the country national development goals, which prioritise education, health and poverty reduction.

By addressing the immediate needs of children, the school feeding programme contributes to these broader objectives. It empowers children to reach their full potential.

According to Ministry of Health and Child Care deputy director nutrition services Mr Handrea Njovo, early childhood development entails more than just education.

“Early Childhood Development looks at many things beyond just education; health is in there, social protection is in there, and so many other aspects that need to be addressed. One of the main reasons why we are focusing on ECD is because we know that a good experience in early childhood will definitely lead to better health outcomes as the child grows older,” he said.

According to UNICEF, early childhood offers a critical window of opportunity to shape the trajectory of a child’s holistic development and build a foundation for their future.

Unicef Zimbabwe nutrition manager Mrs Mara Nyawo commended the multi-sectoral interventions being implemented by Government and partners to address malnutrition and called for more work to ensure all children get on track.

“We work through five key systems which is the health, education, water and sanitation, social protection systems for joined up programming to prevent all forms of malnutrition. What needs to be improved is protecting the diets of the youngest children,” she said.

Mrs Nyawo said 25 percent of children in Zimbabwe were only eating from two food groups on a daily basis and that was made worse this year by El Nino induced drought that reduced the variety of foods available for young child diets.

“We need to do more to protect child diets to improve the first foods that children receive as part of protecting them against malnutrition and also protecting their early childhood development and ensure they grow and develop to their full potential,” she said.

The school feeding programme, therefore, becomes more than just a meal— it is a catalyst for early childhood development, a lifeline that can transform the lives of countless children in Zimbabwe.