Pupils have no appetite for soya
THE education department in Gauteng says pupils at public schools in the province are refusing to eat soya-based meals.
At the National Council of Provinces, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Gauteng education departments appeared before the council’s education and recreation select committee. The departments were quizzed about their matric results, the school nutrition programme and pupil and teacher support material.
The provincial education department officials said scores of schools had inappropriate infrastructure to store and prepare food for the school nutrition programme which has been allocated R6.8 billion for this financial year.
Gauteng MEC Panyaza Lesufi said the only problem his department has with the school nutrition programme, which feeds 1.3 million children, was the menu.
“The problem is when we serve soya, the majority of learners don’t eat, and that has key importance in the menu. The day we serve soya, the returns are huge,” Panyaza said.
Despite curry being added to the soya-prepared food, that “creative method” does not work.
“The reality is soya is not something that our children are excited over,” Panyaza said.
“We raised it with the national department. We are hopeful they will assist us.”
Lesufi said another problem was that the majority of pupils did not eat on Fridays, and cited social pressure as one contributing factor.
He said they were also inundated by people wanting to bring their products – energy drinks or supplementary food – as part of the school menu.
“We normally refer those people to the national department,” he told the parliamentarians.
KwaZulu-Natal MEC Mthandeni Dlungwana said they were dealing with the issue of schools that have appropriate infrastructure such as kitchens.
“We have this year gone out to get appropriate utensils and other material required to ensure handling of food is appropriate. We believe it is to go a long way,” Dlungwana said.
The province presently feeds 2.3 million learners at 5 272 schools.
A KwaZulu-Natal presentation circulated in the meeting showed that cooking utensils, protective clothing and gas stoves would be bought in the 2018-19 financial year.
“In March, the department requested a deviation from the national school nutrition programme business plan 2017-18,” the report said.
The Western Cape, which has 474 828 pupils on the programme, also said schools do not have infrastructure such as storage facilities for food supplied and refrigerators to store perishable food.
“The lack of these facilities poses a problem.
“Typically food is stored in the kitchen cupboards provided with the mobile kitchens,” read a presentation circulated in the meeting.
“Very few schools have storage facilities. This is a problem as storage is not prioritised due to budgetary constraints,” read the Western Cape presentation.
The province said it received R2.4 million for kitchen equipment.
The Limpopo Education Department feeds 1.6 million pupils.
“We still have serious challenges in terms of storage facilities at our schools and food preparation areas,” head of department Beauty Mutheiwana said.
Mutheiwana said they have conducted an assessment for school infrastructure to address the backlogs, which would require R54bn to eradicate.
“When we build new schools, the designs are that they include a kitchenette and storage facilities,” she said.
THE REALITY IS SOYA IS NOT SOMETHING THAT OUR CHILDREN ARE EXCITED OVER. WE RAISED IT WITH THE NATIONAL DEPARTMENT