By Hajaratu Kalokoh
The Government of Sierra Leone is set to expand the school feeding program with the addition of more districts to those which currently benefit from the scheme.
The program, which is a key component of the government’s flagship Free Quality Education (FQE) scheme, has been boosted by a consignment of Chinese donated rice presented to the government last week.
The rice was presented through the Ministry of Agriculture by the Chinese government, for onward submission to the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education.
In a ceremony held at the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education at New England Ville, officials handed over the rice to the World Food Program (WFP) which is implementing the school feeding program.
The programme was started last year as a pilot, given the limited resources at the disposal of the government.
Dr David Moinina Sengeh, Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, said: “We decide using numbers before we came in with our partners in terms of where we distribute food in communities. That is why we work with partners. We have an index that shows communities that are hungry and were they need the nutrients and we will use those numbers to decide where we distribute the school feeding.”
He added: “The school feeding is not starting today, we are only expanding it. About 3,000 children will be fed starting from March 2020. About 72,000 will also be fed through our partners as well.”
This new supply of rice comes at the backdrop of corruption investigation in to the ministry of Education regarding a previous consignment the Chinese donated to the same program last year.
Minister of Agriculture, Dennis Vandi, said during the official handing over ceremony of the rice that it had been meant for farmers. He said they took the decision to give the rice to school pupils due to the importance the government attaches to education.
“We as a government has taken decision that instead of supporting farmers with the donation we got from the Peoples Republic of China, the donation will (be) meant for children of this country under the school feeding program covered by the ministry of Education,” Vandi said.
Out of 57, 000 bags, 27, 000 was handed over to WFP on Thursday, with 30, 000 more bags to be to be off-loaded next month.
The school feeding will be implemented in 151 out of 207 chiefdoms.
The newly added districts to the programme are Pujehum, Kambia, Bombali, Bonthe, Kailahun, Karena, Kono and Port Loko.
A representative from the Chinese government, Zhang Xuegian, revealed that the total cost of the rice donated was 50 million Yuan.
“The Chinese government decided to provide 6, 900, metric tons of rice assistance amounting to Yuan 50 million to the Sierra Leonean government under the latest request. China has been trying her best to contribute to the Free Quality Education flagship program,” Mr Zhang said.
Zhang then expressed hope that the Sierra Leonean authorities didn’t sell the rice as agreed by both governments.
The school feeding program is meant to encourage attendance among pupils especially in rural areas, where many kids are thought to be prevented from attending school due to poverty and hunger.
The program had been in existence in the past decade, but it came to a standstill and was revived with the introduction of the FQE.
Last year the government and The World Food Program (WFP) signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance delivery of the service.
Within the MOU, WFP would focus on producing capacity strengthening in the areas of monitoring, planning, sensitization and food handling, storage and transportation.
Rice comprises part of the total allocation of Le45 billion from the national budget to WFP to buy and deliver 5,000mt of food commodities to feed 300,000 children in over 1,000 schools across 7 district starting from the month of March this year.
“WFP will provide knowledge transfer and technical support in preparation for the sustainable handover and management of school feeding by the government," Deputy Country Director, WFP Yasuhiro Tsumura, said.
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