Mozambique: School Meals Programme Extended

Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)

November 10, 2003
Posted to the web November 11, 2003

Maputo

The school meals programme, whereby free meals are distributed to orphans and disadvantaged girls in primary schools is now catering for a total of 122,000 children in six provinces of Mozambique, reports Monday's issue of the Maputo daily paper "Noticias".

This programme, conducted by the World Food Programme (WFP), in coordination with the country's Education Ministry, was launched in Zambezia, in the centre of the country, in November last year, and now has been extended to Manica, Sofala, Tete, Nampula and Cabo Delgado provinces.

One of the objectives of the programme is to encourage the enrolment of orphans and disadvantaged girls, and its pilot stage of implementation, in Zambezia, proved positive in that more children are enrolling and the number of drop-outs has declined, hence its extension to other provinces.

"The nutritive meal also ensures that the pupils, after walking long distances to school, on an empty stomach, have something to eat in order to concentrate on their studies", said a WFP source, during a ceremony, at a primary school in Mozambique Island, in Nampula, last week, to launch the extension of the programme to this province and to Cabo Delgado.

This programme also includes a monthly kit of 50 kilos of grain and five litres of cooking oil, particularly for disadvantaged girls, also to encourage them to remain at school.

WFP and the Education Ministry are also providing food assistance to some primary schools in those areas seriously affected by drought in the southern provinces of Maputo, Gaza, and Inhambane, catering for about 30,000 pupils. There are plans to extend this to Manica and Tete, which were also hit by drought.