The Government’s contribution to the school feeding programme is small compared to the current high food prices, and hence, should be increased in order to respond to the rising cost of living, according to activists and school officials.

Also, parents from poor families do not have means to pay the required contribution to the feeding of their children at school; therefore, some members of the public are calling for a school feeding funding model that will provide enough support for the poor.

The government spends Rwf56 every day on a student, which is supplemented by the Rwf94 contribution of the parent as support to each student’s feeding while at school.

"We request that the contribution be increased,” Elodie Octavie Akoyiremeye, president of children’s forum at national level, told lawmakers last Monday, during the budget hearing where the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion was presenting its proposed budget for the 2022/23 to the Committee on National Budget and Patrimony.

According to the Rwanda School Feeding Operational Guidelines Summary by the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC), the value of a nutritious meal for this programme is Rwf150 based on menu modelling conducted by MINEDUC and the World Food Programme in 2020, and the National School Feeding Policy.

Venuste Muhamyankaka, Executive Director of Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Alliance – an umbrella of Civil Society Organisations engaged in improving nutrition in Rwanda – told The New Times that a basic nutritious meal cannot be possible with Rwf150, given the current food prices which are high.

Muhamyankaka said that the Government’s daily Rwf56 contribution per student to school feeding is too little compared to the cost of even a basic balanced meal.

According to him, a student needs a basic meal consisting of maize meal (Kawunga), or rice, potatoes, cassava as body energy sources; beans or peas for proteins, and vegetables and fruits for protection from diseases, so that they get the minimum required nutrients. Such a meal, he estimated, can cost about Rwf500.

For effective school feeding programme implementation, he suggested the Government support to school feeding be Rwf300 per day.

A pro-poor approach to school feeding

Akoyiremeye said that the school feeding fee to be paid by students [parents] should be based on people’s means determined by their socio-economic (ubudehe) categories so as to support the most vulnerable.

"Some students from the first Ubudehe category [that of the poorest people] drop out of school because their parents cannot afford the [school feeding] fee,” she said, indicating that this is a concern.

Her proposal was supported by Muhamyankaka, who told The New Times that the government’s contribution to school feeding should focus on the most vulnerable citizens based on Ubudehe categories.

"The Government should offer larger support for students from poor families depending on their ubudehe categories because they cannot afford their contribution, yet they should get what [the meal] they need [at school],” he said.

Félicien Habimana, head teacher of Groupe Scolaire (G.S) Gakoni Catholique in Gatsibo District, told The New Times that the cost of a daily meal at the school was fixed at Rwf200, with the parent having to cover Rwf144 as the Government subsidises the rest of the cost.

The Government’s Rwf56 per student’s meal per day, he said, is available on time, but expressed concern that it is little as the current commodity prices are high, adding that some parents do not pay their share, mostly because of lack of means.

"Most of the parents in rural areas do not have means to afford the contribution to the feeding of their children at school. It would be more helpful if the Government contributes Rwf144, and the parent covers the remaining Rwf56,” he said.

Félicité Mukeshimana, Head Teacher of Groups Scolaire Kibilizi in Gisagara District, told The New Times that contribution of parents to the school feeding programme was being paid only by a few parents – estimated at 10 per cent.

This situation, she said, has had a negative effect on the students’ feeding as the school tries to provide meals to all of them, indicating that the school has 1,400 students from nursery to senior six.

"The parent is supposed to play a greater role in the school feeding, but they do not pay their contribution, then the daily Rwf56 support per student from the Government cannot sustain this initiative,” she said.

Way forward

Education Minister, Valentine Uwamariya told MPs last week during budget hearings that the initiative is still being improved.

"Considering the challenges facing this programme, it requires that parents play their role and partner with the Government in implementing it,” she said.

Meanwhile, MP Omar Munyaneza, Chairperson of the Committee on National Budget and Patrimony said that the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning told lawmakers that they were reviewing the Government’s contribution to the school feeding programme to respond to the current market realities.

Meanwhile, in the next fiscal year, which will start on July 1, 2022, the school feeding programme will get a larger share of the Education budget, as it was allocated Rwf42.3 billion out of the proposed education sector budget of Rwf476.5 billion for 2022/23.

It is estimated that over 3 million students are in Rwanda’s primary and secondary schools. The increase in funding is in line with the Government’s move, announced in November 2020, to extend the school feeding programme to all students from pre-primary to secondary schools.

Under this policy, whose implementation started in January 2021, parents’ contribution to the initiative is compulsory.