By: Ilyasa Baa
The school feeding programme that recently started in the Western Area Rural District has been going on uninterrupted as parents and guardians in Deep Eye Water have been supporting the programme with firewood and other condiments to add to the beans, oil, rice and salt supplied by the Government of Sierra Leone.
The parents of the pupils of Manaratha Primary School told this medium that they needed to come on board to complement the effort the government is making towards the Free Quality Education as their children are being fed at school every day. They said they had suggested to the school authority that they would support with firewood at least every Thursday and one Leone paid for each pupil to make the source more palatable for the kids.
The Head Teacher, Ms Margret Conteh informed this medium that they are trying to manage the available resources to last for the entire second term, noting that the contributions of the parents to make the programme a success, can not be underestimated.
” The children are regular in school and are not playing truancy like before when there was no meal”, she said, adding that their mothers are helping with the kitchen work to expedite the cooking Monday to Friday.
According to the beneficiaries, the food keeps improving in terms of quality and quantity day by day.
It could be recalled that the Deputy Minister 2 at the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Madam Mamusu Massaquoi had said by September 2022/2023 the school feeding programmed would have been implemented in 15 districts including the Western Rural District. The programme is supposed to target 2,930 pre and primary schools, a total of 800,000 pupils nationwide.
