‘SEND CHILDREN TO SCHOOL WITH BHATATA, TINDLUBU’

MANZINI – A desperate plea has been sent by school administrators to at least send their children to school with sweet potatoes to suppress hunger pangs.

This plea comes after the much publicised food shortages that have hit many schools in the country, as government has still not availed food under the school feeding scheme known as Zondle. As the food shortage situation in schools worsens, the Swaziland Association of Schools Administrators (SASA) has pleaded with parents to at least put sweet potatoes, tindlubu (jugo beans) or umbhonyo (boiled peanuts) in their children’s lunch boxes so that they could have something to eat during break time.

The administrators were of the view that this would enable the pupils to at least concentrate during lessons.
Sphasha Dlamini, the Secretary General (SG) of SASA said the situation in schools was getting worse by the day, and asked parents and guardians to give children what they could afford for break time so that the pupils would be able to concentrate in class.

“We plead with parents to play their part as stakeholders in the education system because government is currently faced with challenges,” said Dlamini. She said their hands were tied as head teachers, especially those in primary schools because there were no top-up fees, so there was little they could do for the pupils.
“We are just saying they should try anything they can afford because we cannot demand that everyone should bring a lunchbox as it might be viewed as another form of top-up-fee,” the SG said.

The head teachers said hunger was written all over the faces of the pupils, something that made teachers’ jobs difficult.
The school administrators have sent a number of requests to government, asking it to act fast on the matter because they fear that they would soon start losing lives due to hunger in schools.

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