Parents should provide lunch for their children
Jun 16, 2009
YOUR PLATFORM<br><br>Sometime back you wrote an article about school lunch and the politics involved. I had not read the paper but I managed to access the story on your online archive. Reading that article makes me sad. As a parent and educator, I
YOUR PLATFORM
Sometime back you wrote an article about school lunch and the politics involved. I had not read the paper but I managed to access the story on your online archive. Reading that article makes me sad. As a parent and educator, I fully understand that many people are not employed.
Our society should realise how important our children’s lives are. Schools should not just focus on making money, nor should parents only think about their ‘prestige’. If a parent cannot feed his family, let him go back to the village and grow food. Maybe by doing so, such a parent will be able to feed his family and get extra income to take care of the other needs! School proprietors should encourage parents to pack food for their children. Children need proper care if they are to perform well, or else we are pushing them into the dangerous habit of cheating in order to pass. Anyone who cannot provide lunch for his child is not fit to be called a parent.
While some people have attacked the President for banning school lunch fees in universal primary and secondary education programmes, I am sure he did not do this to make children starve. It was because some authorities were using it to fleece parents by charging extra fees. Moreover the President’s directive came long before food prices escalated; so imagine how much the head teachers would be charging us!
However, we all need to stop the school lunch politics and address the real issues. The President, together with the education ministry, should pick a leaf from other nations on how to run the school feeding programmes. Many Ugandans want to get everything free of charge. Soon we will be asking the President to buy our children clothes! The bottom line, therefore, is you (parents, head teachers and school proprietors), should feed the children as a prerequisite for better learning.
Muwanguzi T.
Nakaseke
For comments, queries, school memoirs and reactions on Education&Career pullout, email education@newvision.co.ug
Sometime back you wrote an article about school lunch and the politics involved. I had not read the paper but I managed to access the story on your online archive. Reading that article makes me sad. As a parent and educator, I fully understand that many people are not employed.
Our society should realise how important our children’s lives are. Schools should not just focus on making money, nor should parents only think about their ‘prestige’. If a parent cannot feed his family, let him go back to the village and grow food. Maybe by doing so, such a parent will be able to feed his family and get extra income to take care of the other needs! School proprietors should encourage parents to pack food for their children. Children need proper care if they are to perform well, or else we are pushing them into the dangerous habit of cheating in order to pass. Anyone who cannot provide lunch for his child is not fit to be called a parent.
While some people have attacked the President for banning school lunch fees in universal primary and secondary education programmes, I am sure he did not do this to make children starve. It was because some authorities were using it to fleece parents by charging extra fees. Moreover the President’s directive came long before food prices escalated; so imagine how much the head teachers would be charging us!
However, we all need to stop the school lunch politics and address the real issues. The President, together with the education ministry, should pick a leaf from other nations on how to run the school feeding programmes. Many Ugandans want to get everything free of charge. Soon we will be asking the President to buy our children clothes! The bottom line, therefore, is you (parents, head teachers and school proprietors), should feed the children as a prerequisite for better learning.
Muwanguzi T.
Nakaseke
For comments, queries, school memoirs and reactions on Education&Career pullout, email education@newvision.co.ug