Mama Janet Museveni tackles food insecurity in schools

By Dennis Katungi

I have followed the campaign by the Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni as she traversed the country talking to schools, local government and community leaders on the important matter of providing school children with meals.

Learners who are not provided with meals while at school are unfortunate.  They have irresponsible parents.  It reminds me of the common saying that - ‘common sense is not common'.  Why would any parent think that their children would do well at school when they are hungry? Or do they not mind how well their kids do in school?

Way back in the 1970's while I was in Primary School, the issue of feeding school children was the responsibility of parents pure and simple.  I do not remember any campaign or effort by the Government to tell parents the obvious, that children, just like adults need to feed in order to function.  

I only remember local chiefs' inspections of homes, to find out, if some parents were keeping children away from school, or if they did not have pit-latrines - this had repercussions for the parents. These were school fees paying days before universal primary education was introduced. Children carried a packed meal to school, in Runyankore known as (Entanda).

 Almost four decades later, Uganda as country has done better on all indices of development. Life expectancy has leaped from 40 to 63 years, under five mortality reduced to 64/1,000 live births and infant mortality rate is low at 43/1,000 live births. For the health sector, tremendous achievements have been realised in immunisation coverage rates, 80% and general literacy rates have improved substantially.  

Better quality of life and improved homesteads are noticeable as you travel across Uganda.  There used to be a sea of grass thatched houses in my village in Kazo, Kiruhura in the 70's but now I see versatile roofing and improved farms with increased yields in Diary milk and food crops.

You even notice personal vehicles parked at these homes.   Despite these visible improved quality of life signs, we have some parents sending their children to school without a meal! 

Janet Museveni told a press briefing that the situation was even worse. Some parents send their children to school before they have had any meal at home! In other words, they go to school on an empty stomach.

This is a terrible indictment on some of the parents of today. I am reminded of Charles Dickens tale of two cities during the French Revolution: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age foolishness, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair"

How can the parents of the analogue 1970's/80s be better than the parents of digital 2018? What went wrong? The argument that some parents are very poor does not hold; any homestead that has a piece of land should surely be self-sufficient as far as home meals are concerned.  

Uganda is a very fertile country; at least grow enough food to eat. The problem is pathetic irresponsibility. How come the men are found drinking waragi during the day? Janet Museveni told the Press that on average, men in some areas she visited spend sh1,000 a day on booze. Clearly, it is not a poverty issue; it is willful neglect and failure to provide for their families.  To me, it should be a punishable offence.

I notice something peculiar with Uganda. Society and indeed government is very tolerant; to its own detriment! We need to take a stand on some issues; more so, the issues that affect children.

Crack the whip on some of these irresponsible parents. What do the local leaders of today do within their communities? The local government, teachers, clergy, LCs, what are their primary responsibilities if it does not include advocating for the welfare of school children?

Janet Museveni is Cabinet Minister, what do all the officials in her ministry do? The commissioners, inspectors and headteachers etc. One would have expected that they ought to do the donkey work and let the minister do the strategic leadership role. 

At the media briefing, I asked if the technical people in the Ministry of Education had done research to find out why and what category of parents send their children to school without food. They have not done that yet.

Given that there is a whole host of departments that do inspection, monitoring and evaluation, community driven participation, examining and assessing the main needs and vulnerabilities of the poor, should we not be in position by now to establish the reasons why some parents are failing in their responsibilities to look after their children?

The minister has clues on some of the reasons for the state of affairs.  She said that even good things may come with some negative consequences - explaining that Universal Primary Education meant that all kids, including those from the most vulnerable families who would not have attended school, now did.  Those who used to stay at home grazing animals and digging the shambas got a chance to go to school. The extreme vulnerabilities that we never used to see because such pupils remained under the radar - became visible in class rooms.

Let's wish her the best of luck as she tackles these issues head-on.

The writer is a communications and media relations manager at the Uganda Media Centre