By Jonathan Kivumbi
On Wednesday, May 9, 2018, New Vision ran a story titled “Parents’ Reluctance Retards School Feeding Policy.” On Friday, May 11, 2018, the same paper published another article, “Sensitise Parents on School Feeding, First Lady Urges Leaders.”
Recently, on September 3, 2024, Daily Monitor ran the headline: “Feed Your Pupils – Milk, Eggs – Janet.” Upon reading this, I nearly blacked out. I could hardly believe such words came from someone overseeing a ministry where teachers, at school and home, often resort to meals like sugarcane, raw cassava, and brown posho. Maama, for goodness’ sake, how do you expect a school, operating under tree sheds, to afford such luxury?
As a Luganda adage goes, “Ttolina kyolya ng’ olamuza mbwa,” meaning, “It is senseless for someone who lacks food to think of feeding a dog.” Maama, if a person cannot provide for themselves, how can they be expected to provide for others? Most schools are operating in dire conditions, and suggesting they feed their pupils milk and eggs is arguably a form of mockery. This reminds me of Marie Antoinette’s infamous words to the French revolutionaries in the 18th century: “If you cannot afford bread, go buy yourselves cakes.”
What resulted from those words is a topic for another day. But Maama, with all due respect, I urge you to learn from history to avoid repeating the mistakes of those who came before us. If given the opportunity, as you pledged five years ago, I am more than willing to take you around some of the schools you are advising to feed their pupils milk and eggs.
This tour might help you accept the reality that your advice, or directive, is simply unrealistic and cannot be implemented given the current state of our country’s education system, not even in the next century. We don’t need to travel far—Kampala and Wakiso are enough to draw the necessary conclusions. I would even argue that schools in your home region of Ankole, the so-called “land of milk,” may also find it difficult to meet such demands.
All our children need in schools is a decent meal, such as porridge for breakfast and posho with beans for lunch, not the luxury of milk and eggs. Trust me, if your ministry can make this available in schools across the country—excluding the idealistic milk and eggs—you will see positive results. A national feeding policy, not milk and eggs, is what we need to address the hunger gap in schools.
I pledge to submit a well-researched write-up on how best we can tackle this issue. My concern is that schools are filled with hungry children who are not learning. Why don’t we focus on feeding them? I beg to submit!
Thank you! All in the spirit of “For God and My Country!”
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