“Most of the meals given to the kids do not have all the necessary food groups," says a local registered dietician.
“Most of the meals given to the kids do not have all the necessary food groups," says a local registered dietician.
The Integrated Nutrition Programme was launched by the government in 1994 and in 2004 the programme was re-located from the Department of Health to the Department of Education as the National School Nutrition Programme.
The main objective was to help fight the scourge of malnutrition in young children. Primary schools graded under quantiles 1-3 (according to high poverty levels within the surrounding area and the state of the school buildings, among other criteria) provided one daily meal to the children and meal servers were hired to serve the meals.
The menu is standardised by the department and according to the Department of Education’s communication officer Malibongwe Mtima, it has to be “a cooked meal served every day with fruit and something to drink”.
Grocott’s Mail visited NV Cewu Primary School to see their menu; we arrived at 10am when the meal was being served: pap and a thin soup made with cabbage and sunflower oil.
The principal of the school, Anele Ndyolashe, said the meal includes soup, spinach and cabbage, alternating between pap, samp and beans and rice depending on the day of the week. However, no fruit or juice is served with the meal to make it more balanced.
Mtima says, “The project has just been piloted. We are still trying to equip our service providers and some schools to familiarise them with the project.”
A local registered dietician who prefers to remain anonymous said, “Most of the meals given to the kids do not have all the necessary food groups.
"The samp, beans and vegetables however are balanced because they at least have protein, carbohydrates
and vegetables.” She added that it would help to serve fruit juice with the meal so a balance could be achieved which will help the children understand the benefits of healthy eating and possibly implement
this at home.
Mtima shares the same sentiments saying, “It has to be nutritious so that the kids can have energy. Principals and SGBs have to be our eyes and ears in order to ensure that everything is in place when it comes the project.”
While only one school was covered in this article, Grocott’s Mail has reason to believe that similiar situations occur at some other Grahamstown primary schools.
