FORUM NEWSPAPER has made some observations about the so-called School Feeding Programme and herewith some unimaginable facts for our readers to digest. The stay-in-school scheme was rolled out by the line Ministry of Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education: MBSSE along with the then flagship programmed; the Free Quality Education to keep pupils in school for the enhancement of fruitful learning outcomes. It formed key aspect of the implementation of the then flagship policy at early learning and upper high school. But it is all now a whole different kettle of fish with all sorts of story as if no one cares about the legacy of President Julius Maada Bio. Even though food was to be ready for sharing to pupils at 11:30 am (average lunch time for schools), this was not the case in the schools visited. The feeding activity which included sharing and eating of food commenced at 12:15 pm and lasted for almost an hour. The closing time for some of these schools 381 was between 1 & 2pm, and by the time the feeding was concluded, some of the children were seen going home. Food preparation and sharing was not done under a hygienic condition. Food was placed on the floor during preparation and sharing.
Even though by the contract by the: MBSSE, rice was to be served in schools. However, our observation has revealed that Garri was supplied to the pupils even though they were not desired. Some school authorities have allegedly mentioned that the commodity was expensive to prepare and those they were neither informed, nor were any assessment done to gauge the children’s receptiveness to garri. The expired mana packs supplied by the Joint Aide Management (JAM) to schools in Tonkolili was also not appreciated by the pupils. Delivery notes from schools visited showed that for the 2019/2020 school year, the average time that food items were supplied was six months after the reopening of schools (March 2020). In the 2021/2022 school year, there was however no food was supplied during the first term. The supply of food items started in January 2023 which was during the second term of the school year.
Out of the many schools visited, FORUM NEWSPAPER observed that benefited from the SFP, only eight had storage facilities with three in good conditions. The others were without storage facilities. They either stored their food supplies in the premises of the head teachers, the Paramount Chiefs or in buildings close to the schools.
We also hold an observation that the School Feeding Secretariat did not have a system in place to monitor and evaluate the SFP. Requests were made for school feeding documents for the period under review, but no evaluation plans or reports were submitted. The secretariat had no mechanism in place to collect and analyse data. There was no adequate staffing, no budgetary allocation and no required equipment to carry out the SFP. We observed gaps in the information that needed to be collected and analysed.
