School nutrition remains one of the most effective tools to combat the problem of learner drop-outs and the additional pressure on food security brought about by the tough economic conditions and rapidly rising food prices. File Picture: Marilyn Bernard
Durban — The Tiger Brands Foundation has indicated that R1 billion would provide in-school breakfasts to 67 700 pupils for 14 years.
The foundation said studies show that one in 10 South Africans goes hungry every day, meaning that malnutrition levels remain high. This forces millions of pupils across the country to rely on school nutrition programmes as a source of their only nutritious meal per day.
It said that according to research, the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP),launched in 1994, currently feeds more than 9.6 million children in South Africa today, at more than 21 000 schools across the country’s nine provinces.
The programme was designed to improve the ability of children to learn by combating malnutrition, reducing hunger and improving school attendance.
The Tiger Brands Foundation (TBF) established an in-school breakfast programme to complement the lunch provided by the Department of Basic Education as part of the NSNP.
Since its inception in 2011, the TBF’s in-school breakfast programme has become one of the most efficient nutrition schemes in South Africa, serving nutritious meals to tens of thousands of pupils from underprivileged communities on a daily basis.
TBF national operations manager Karl Muller said: “TBF provides nutritious breakfasts to 67 700 learners each day, at 91 schools across the country in all provinces. Since it was established, the TBF has served 115 055 224 meals.”
Muller revealed that as one of the most efficiently run NGOs, the foundation provides a meal at R2.82 per meal per day, currently spending about R28 million a year to serve 67 700 pupils a nutritious breakfast.
A typical TBF hot breakfast consists of either a fortified sorghum, maize or oats-based porridge. These meals are prepared by food handlers who are trained to cook in bulk, and on how to use the foundation’s sponsored mobile kitchens optimally, he said. Each pupil is provided with one plate and a set of eating utensils.
Muller said pupils are served Tiger Brands breakfast products, which compare favourably with optimal levels of micronutrients as recommended by the World Health Organization and other scientific bodies.
Meals are designed by nutritionists to ensure they meet the nutritional needs of growing young minds, as well as address some of the main health challenges in vulnerable communities.
“TBF is entirely responsible for the costs, distribution, training and monitoring of our in-school breakfast nutrition programme, although we utilise the systems developed by the NSNP.
“Since the pilot phase of the breakfast programme, we have expanded it considerably to cover primary and combined schools in all nine provinces,” Muller said.
He noted that at its current rate of efficiency and cost structure, an amount of R1 billion would enable the TBF to run its breakfast programme for 14 years or serve 355 million meals, which would be a significant boost for the thousands of vulnerable children who depend on the breakfast programme.
“An investment of R1 billion would be a significant game-changer for the TBF’s in-school breakfast programme and would allow us to reach countless more underprivileged learners who receive their only nutritious meal at school,” Muller said.
“School nutrition remains one of the most effective tools to combat the problem of learner drop-outs and the additional pressure on food security brought about by the tough economic conditions and rapidly rising food prices. Investment in these nutrition programmes should thus remain an urgent priority for all stakeholders.”
Muller said that TBF’s in-school breakfast programme has in recent years attracted other private sector partners. The foundation’s long-term goal is to see many more private sector organisations become active partners in the programme by either contributing funds to or by adopting the foundation’s model to run their own programmes.
Nourishing young growing minds should remain top of mind,he said, and partnerships are ultimately key to expanding free in-school breakfast provision for pupils across all parts of the country.
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