AT least 476 public schools have received zondle from the Ministry of Education and Training.
This is through the ministry’s school feeding programme, whereby beans, rice, mealie-meal and maize are delivered to schools to help provide meals for pupils.
Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Training, Naniki Mnisi, said they had covered 56% of schools in the distribution of food supplies as of yesterday.
The ministry began deliveries on January 27 for primary schools and on February 2 proceeded to secondary schools. By February 5, only 19% of schools had been reached, but Mnisi said the ministry had since accelerated distribution over the past two weeks.
She said 476 out of the 883 public schools benefiting from the feeding scheme had now been supplied. Of these, 332 were primary schools out of 598, translating to 56% coverage.
Mnisi added that 144 secondary schools had received food out of the 285 public secondary schools, placing distribution at 51%. She assured headteachers and parents that the ministry was proceeding with distributing zondle to schools, pleading for patience while the activity continues.
President of the Eswatini Principals Association, Armstrong Dlamini, said some schools had received food while others were still waiting, noting that the process was ongoing.
He said headteachers missed the previous system where food was delivered to all schools at once when schools opened.
He warned that delays in food delivery had a negative impact, as some pupils dropped out when meals were not available. He added that many learners depended on school meals as their main decent meal of the day, making it difficult for teachers to conduct lessons when pupils were hungry.
DISTRIBUTION UPDATE AS OF YESTERDAY:
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Primary Schools: 332/598 = 56%
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High Schools: 144/285 = 51%
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Total (All Schools): 476/883 = 54%
