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Rhodesian government fed primary school pupils but not Zanu PF regime - Zanu PF MP says
05 Feb 2016 at 08:56hrs | Views
Zanu PF Chegutu West MP Dexter Nduna has said the Rhodesian government used to feed primary school pupils but the Zanu PF regime is struggling.
He said a lot of pupils are dropping out of school due to hunger.
Nduna told parliament on Thursday that pupils should be fed.
"I will now touch on issues to do with school, primary education in particular.
"We are losing a lot of our future because firstly, we are not feeding our children at school. A lot of our African kids are not going to school because they are hungry.
"We are losing our engineers of the future today because we are not feeding our kids.
"The distance between home and school is 15 to 20 km and our kids are not going to school. As they also get there, they are not being fed, so they are not going there. There was feeding during the Rhodesian era but there is no feeding now in Zimbabwe. It is time we make sure that we start feeding our children at school".
Meanwhile, the Southern Eye reported that Government has expressed concern at the increasing number of hunger-induced school dropouts, and has promised to mobilise resources to urgently roll out a feeding programme in the worst affected parts of the country.
Primary and Secondary Education deputy minister Paul Mavhima said the first phase of the programme would target early childhood development (ECD) pupils, before spreading to senior classes.
"We are receiving several reports that students are no longer going to school because of the hunger situation. This is a national issue.
"There are ministries that are responsible for that [food aid], but what you need to know is that, from our Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, we are coming up with a programme for schools feeding," he said.
Education officials late last year admitted thousands of students, mostly in Matabeleland North, were already skipping lessons due to food shortages.
As a stop gap measure, government allowed schools in Matabeleland North to introduce short working hours to enable the pupils to go home early.
He said a lot of pupils are dropping out of school due to hunger.
Nduna told parliament on Thursday that pupils should be fed.
"I will now touch on issues to do with school, primary education in particular.
"We are losing a lot of our future because firstly, we are not feeding our children at school. A lot of our African kids are not going to school because they are hungry.
"We are losing our engineers of the future today because we are not feeding our kids.
Meanwhile, the Southern Eye reported that Government has expressed concern at the increasing number of hunger-induced school dropouts, and has promised to mobilise resources to urgently roll out a feeding programme in the worst affected parts of the country.
Primary and Secondary Education deputy minister Paul Mavhima said the first phase of the programme would target early childhood development (ECD) pupils, before spreading to senior classes.
"We are receiving several reports that students are no longer going to school because of the hunger situation. This is a national issue.
"There are ministries that are responsible for that [food aid], but what you need to know is that, from our Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, we are coming up with a programme for schools feeding," he said.
Education officials late last year admitted thousands of students, mostly in Matabeleland North, were already skipping lessons due to food shortages.
As a stop gap measure, government allowed schools in Matabeleland North to introduce short working hours to enable the pupils to go home early.
Source - Byo24News additional reporting by Southern Eye
