Call for a national early childhood feeding scheme
There is no government nutrition programme for children before they enter formal schooling
There is no national government feeding scheme for children before they enter formal schooling. Archive photo: Brenton Geach
- The Real Reform for Early Childhood Development campaign is calling for a national feeding scheme for children before they start formal schooling.
- Nearly one in four South African children under the age of five are stunted due to malnutrition.
- And yet there is no government feeding scheme for children before they enter formal schooling.
Despite the National School Nutrition Programme, government is failing to address malnutrition in children. More than one in four (27%) South African children under the age of five are stunted (short for their age). And a recent South African Human Rights Commission report found 116 children in the Eastern Cape had died of severe malnutrition in the course of a year.
The problem is that there is no national feeding scheme for children before they enter formal schooling, says the Real Reform for Early Childhood Development campaign, which released a series of reports this month seeking to address the issue.
The current National School Nutrition Programme run by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) is only for learners in primary and secondary school.
The department does have an Early Childhood Development subsidy. It is R17 per child per day, but only R6.80 of this is intended for nutrition.
The Real Reform report says this is not enough, and points to the World Bank which suggested increasing the total subsidy per child per day to R31. This “would translate to an increase from R6.80 to R12.40 per child per day for nutrition”, according to Real Reform.
Furthermore, only registered Early Learning Programmes (ELPs) are eligible for the subsidy, yet 41% of ELPs are not registered. This may well mean that ELPs serving children who need the subsidy the most are not receiving it.
Tatiana Kazim, researcher for the Equal Education Law Centre who co-authored one of the reports, says the measures government has taken to address malnutrition in the country’s children are inadequate.
The Real Reform campaign argues for the creation of a new, separate nutrition programme solely for children in Early Childhood Development programmes.
The National Treasury has allocated funding for a pilot programme. Tshepo Mantjé, a coordinator for Real Reform, says they hope their research will be considered in its implementation.
The DBE attended the campaign’s report launch in Johannesburg on 3 November.
“We are urging the Department of Basic Education to provide nutrition support to all eligible children attending early learning programmes, regardless of their registration status,” said Mantjé.
Kazim says the programme needs to be “rolled out nationally as soon as possible”.
The campaign recommends the DBE also conduct training on its health nutrition guidelines, oversee and coordinate the plan at national, provincial and municipal level, and make nutrition support a legal requirement.
The three reports were written by representatives from South African Medical Research Council, Ilifa Labantwana, DG Murray Trust, UCT’s Centre for Law and Society, Do More Foundation and Equal Education Law Centre.
Elijah Mhlanga, a media spokesperson for the DBE, did not respond to GroundUp’s requests for comment.
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Letters
Dear Editor
We run a feeding scheme trying to make a difference in our community. We also have a daycare for the underprivileged kids. It's really heartbreaking to see how many kids are hungry out there. We try our best to get food so we can cook but we don't have many people that sponsor the kitchen. We try our utmost best to give our kids a plate of food. If we can really get help from the National School Nutrition Programme, that would be great. There are people out there who want to make a difference but don't have the means to. Our plea is for the Government to help. These children deserve a proper nutritional plate of food!
Dear Editor
We are a daycare (Siyanda Educare Centre) in Paarl, trying to make a difference in our communities by giving young children a chance to learn because we know that some of them come from disadvantaged homes. We provide breakfast, snacks, lunch, and afternoon snacks before they go home because some of them do not have food at home. This is so that they can be like other children (healthy and full stomachs) and be able to concentrate. It's not easy though as we don't have a lot of sponsors. It would be great if the National School Nutrition Programme could help us. We believe that these children have great future but now their challenge is that they don't have food.
Dear Editor
I am the chairperson of the ECD progressive movement based in the Northern Cape. We fully agree with this notion of increasing the subsidy. In 2019 we marched to the Department of Education and challenged the memorandum of agreement regarding the subsidy when it was R15 per child per day, per 22 days, but it was for the child only and that was what the ECDs signed for.
But the MOA was misleading. That R15 was divided into three parts based on the so-called funding letter, so we support you all the way and if possible we are 100% ready to partner with you. We are currently busy engaging with the Department of Education the MEC, HOD, and ECT. We are hoping for the best outcome.
Dear Editor
I would like to concur with the author. I am a chairperson of an ECD forum where I have witnessed ECD owners struggling beyond measure, especially in trying to put food on their learner's tables.
The food prices are shooting through the roof, and with the Department of Education NOT assisting, crèches have started to close their doors.
The question is: what is going to happen to the children they were taking care of? Is ECD not important in South Africa anymore?
Is the Minister of Basic Education even aware of this problem? If not, why? And if she does, what is she doing about it?
Hunger, stunting and malnutrition are the biggest contributors to poor performance at school. Are we only going to measure our results at the end of the learning career, Grade 12, when we should have been taking care of the foundation, so that the entire building process flows smoothly?
What happened to the companies that would donate the "best befores" to the underserved?
My closing remark; South Africans need to pull together to end this plight. Children are vulnerable and need us all.
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