INVESTIGATION: Eating and learning — school feeding entices pupils to Anambra classrooms

Located at the far end of Obosi Central School in Idemili north local government area, Anambra state, is the classroom block housing the pupils of primary 2A. There are 21 of them seated in the class and, according to their teacher, each averages a class attendance of 90 per cent.

So what’s the big deal about being punctual to class? Prior to December 2016, when the federal government introduced the national home grown school feeding (NHGSF) programme in the state, at least two out of the 20 of them would miss school on daily basis with reasons ranging from inability to pay school fees to ill-health.

But since they started being fed during school hours, the sicknesses and all other old things have passed away; new things have now begun in their academic endeavours.

“Even if you instruct them not to come because they did not pay their school fee, you see them still coming every day and more importantly, not forgetting to bring their plates along with them,” Joy Okafor, their teacher, says.

This is not peculiar to the pupils in the school alone as checks revealed that the school feeding programme has, among other things, brought great joy in the lives of pupils in Anambra.

When TheCable visited some of the LGAs in Anambra, there was evidence that the programme has indeed commenced in the government schools. But what are the things entailed in the running of the N500 billion social investment programme?

STOP-START: PAY BEFORE SERVICE
Checks revealed that the number of days in a month in which the pupils are fed varies from school to school. While the caterers in most of the schools cook for the children for up to twenty days or more, others cook for as low as two weeks “till whenever the next tranche of payment is made”. Some others however cook on a daily basis.

In Obosi Central School, for instance, Obi Anthonia, one of the caterers, revealed the payment usually made to them is just for ten days.

“As they are sending the money, they are stipulating the specific number of days the money will last,” she added.

But in some other schools such as Model Primary School, Nkwo Nnewi, in Nnewi north, one of the caterers in the school said she usually cooks for 20 days while the one at Ezi Awka Community Primary School, Awka, claims she cooks “every day except on public holidays”.

EVEN NURSERY PUPILS ARE FED IN SOME SCHOOLS
This is what the school feeding programme looks like at Obosi Central School
Serving yam porridge at Obosi Central School

In what looks like a generous gesture, some of the schools visited extended the feeding to the nursery Sschool pupils but still at same amount budgeted for feeding only the pupils in nursery one to three.

Although such schools said the kids in nursery classes are fed only on occasions where the food is remaining, checks revealed that for the extra stomachs to be added, some sacrifices have to be made at the expense of the original beneficiaries. It was discovered that in most cases, the ration shared to the primary one to three pupils is reduced hence making the quantity much smaller than what it should be.

This notwithstanding, some of them, like in the case of the caterer at Umuota Nursery and Primary School, Idemili north, believes there is little or nothing she can do about the plight of the nursery pupils.

“The money is not even enough for those it is meant for let alone adding more pupils. The best thing is for the government to increase the money being paid so as to accommodate them,” she said.

IN MOST SCHOOLS, QUALITY AND QUANTITY ARE A SHAM
While the food in few of the schools is little above average in quality and quantity, others are nothing close to being nutritious and enough for the students. In fact, of the five schools visited, only in one school could the food pass as ‘fair’. In other cases, it is either the food is lacking in needed condiments or the share for each pupil would rather aggravate hunger instead of keeping it off.

In Obosi Central School, Joy Okafor, the health teacher who tastes the food before it is being shared, admits that although “the nutrient could pass as fair… the fish they usually put is just for the sake of it.”

Helen Ejimuna, a caterer in the school, however says she can’t cook something she won’t give her child to eat for others.

“At worst, wherever my money stops, I will not cook, but the food will always be rich in nutrient,” she maintains.

And it truly is. The aroma of the porridge yam in the day’s menu envelops the entire class even as a closer look confirmed how “garnished” it is. Garnished, not with all sorts of condiments fish but relatively, compared to the beans served at Ezi Awka Community Primary School the day TheCable visited the school.

Like drops of water, the sharer (one of the school teachers) drops just a spoonful of beans in each plate brought forward by the pupils in a queue while the school caterer stands by her side, assisting.

Ifeoma Ndubuisi, the health teacher monitoring the process, would later say the food is that small to be able to reach the nursery pupils.

“It is usually not good when they salivate, looking at us give food to others,” she said, “so I discussed with the headmistress and we agreed it would be nice to reduce the ration a bit for those other ones so the food can also reach them. But as for okpa and moi moi which are counted, we don’t give them.”

The caterer in the school further gives surprising details of how she manages to cook the food for the pupils: “For rice, I buy N350 price of fish into five but for beans, I use three pieces of N250 worth of fish” – for 106 pupils!

No one talks about fish in other meals; in the school it’s exclusively for days of rice and beans as well.

Hope Igbokwe, a caterer at Model Primary School Nkwor Nnewi, however blames the government for the low quality of the food.

“They say good food na money make am. If you want the quality to improve, then increase the budget,” she added.

https://www.thecable.ng/investigation-eating-learning-school-feeding-entices-pupils-anambra-classrooms

Smile

Do they really need the N5m approx repair of the SCHOOL or the "N49bn" sham school feeding program?

Moreover:

IN MOST SCHOOLS, QUALITY AND QUANTITY ARE A SHAM
While the food in few of the schools is little above average in quality and quantity, others are nothing close to being nutritious and enough for the students. In fact, of the five schools visited, only in one school could the food pass as ‘fair’. In other cases, it is either the food is lacking in needed condiments or the share for each pupil would rather aggravate hunger instead of keeping it off.

In Obosi Central School, Joy Okafor, the health teacher who tastes the food before it is being shared, admits that although “the nutrient could pass as fair… the fish they usually put is just for the sake of it.”

where is that stupid mumu principal that said the school feeding program is a waste

When did this school feeding start?I hope it was not few weeks ago?