The Government’s school feeding program that was announced mid this month, means that a pupil in nursery and primary school will get Rwf150 for a meal per day, which actors in the education sector said is inadequate for a child’s nutritious meal.

They lauded the Government’s increased contribution to this initiative, but expressed concern that the overall school meal funding is too small as the parents’ contribution has been slashed amid rise in commodity prices.

Information from the Ministry of Education shows that the parents’ contribution to school feeding is only Rwf975 per student per term (three months), while the Government will contribute Rwf8,775 per student per term.

This data suggests that the parent will contribute 11 per cent, while the Government will cover about 89 per cent of the total Rwf9,750 school feeding funding per term. And, given that the term will have 65 days, a daily meal would be funded with Rwf150 on average.

According to the Minister of Education, Valentine Uwamariya, the Government decided to make a bigger contribution to school feeding than parents so as to solve the funding challenge that this programme was faced with.

"Previously, we requested a parent to pay 60 per cent to the school feeding cost, with the Government covering 40 per cent,” she said, indicating that the new move will address the issue where some parents lacked means to cover the required contribution, which was one of the factors leading to school dropouts.

The 2021 Rwanda School Feeding Operational Guidelines developed by the Ministry of Education with the support of the UN World Food Programme (UN WFP), estimated that the cost of a base meal per student was Rwf150 on average, based on menu modelling conducted by the two entities and prices of 2019.

Such a base meal for day schools, consists of fortified maize meal, fortified oil, avocado, dodo (amaranth), beans, iodised salt, and milk, the guidelines indicate. But they added that it can be adapted by substituting any of its components by different food from the same food group, in quantities that provide similar nutrient content.

‘Too small for a nutritious meal’

Benson Rukabu, National Coordinator at Rwanda Education for All Coalition (REFAC) – a local civil society organisation advocating for quality education for all citizens – told The New Times that, with the Government paying most of the school feeding expenses, more children are expected to go to school.

But, with the food price hikes, he said, the daily allocation for a student’s meal is too small.

"The idea to feed all children at school is commendable as it is in line with ensuring inclusive education. But, the daily funding is insufficient for a meal... Normally, a meal meeting the basic nutritional requirements can cost a minimum of Rwf250,” he said, indicating that it can have beans and vegetables included, and that a kilogramme of beans is at least Rwf800 now.

Earlier, Venuste Muhamyankaka, Executive Director of Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Alliance – an umbrella of Civil Society Organisations engaged in improving nutrition in Rwanda – told The New Times that a basic nutritious meal cannot be achieved with Rwf150, given the current high food prices.

"This amount is too small compared to the required nutrient intake for a child,” he said.

According to him, a student needs a basic meal consisting of maize meal (Kawunga), or rice, potatoes, cassava as body energy sources; beans or peas for proteins, and vegetables and fruits for protection from diseases, so that they get the minimum required nutrients. Such a meal, he estimated, can cost about Rwf500.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education encourages locally sourced food procurement within the current framework of the National School Feeding Policy (NSFP) for affordability purposes (such as through lowering transport costs), to support farmer cooperatives, the national economy, local food production, and help fight malnutrition.

Felicite Mukeshimana, head teacher of Groupe Scolaire Kibilizi in Gisagara District, Southern Province, told The New Times that "it is worth commending that the Government increased its contribution for the school feeding from the previous Rwf56 to Rwf135 per pupil a day.”

But, she said that the high increase in food prices poses a threat to the provision of meals to pupils throughout the term.

"There is no guarantee that the funding will be adequate to provide meals to pupils during the entire term. It can cover some two months,” she said.

"For instance, 1000 pupils will eat not less than 150 kilogrammes of rice [per one meal],” she said, indicating that a kilogramme is Rwf1,100 in Gisagara District.

This means that the 150 kilogrammes of rice alone (without other needed ingredients) will cost Rwf165,000, which is more than the Rwf150,000 total contribution to school feeding (from both Government and parents) for the 1000 students.

She suggested that the shopping of commodities for school feeding be tax exempted in order to lower costs.

Mary Uwampogoje, head teacher of Muhima Primary School in Nyarugenge District, Kigali, told The New Times that they are going to try feeding pupils with the allocated funds to see whether the new arrangement works.

Previously, she said, the school feeding was challenged by the fact that some parents, including the most vulnerable ones in the first Ubudehe category, were unable to pay Rwf15,000 contribution per student per term – estimating that about 62 per cent of the parents were contributing to the programme.

"I think that what the Government did will offer a solution because all the pupils whose contribution was not being paid, will get the Rwf8,775 from [the State]. If you put that money together and buy commodities in bulk, it is possible every pupil will get a meal,” she said, adding that the school has over 1,900 pupils in both nursery and primary education.

An overall ‘huge’ expenditure for the Government

Though the Government’s contribution to a student’s meal term is relatively small, it will amount to a significant sum of money, given the number of pupils that should benefit from it.

Overall, there were over 2.8 million pupils in both public and Government-subsidised nursery and primary schools in Rwanda in 2020-2021. These included over 200,000 and over 2.6 million nursery school and primary school pupils, respectively, according to the 2020/21 education statistical yearbook, by the Ministry of Education.

Given that the Government supports the school meal for each student with Rwf8,775 per term, it would have to invest at least Rwf24 billion for their feeding per term, and Rwf72 billion per year (three terms) – this is based on a scenario where the number of pupils would remain constant.

It is worth mentioning that for pre-primary education, the nursery enrolment rate was 25.9 per cent, meaning that out of 100 kids in this category, 74 were not schooling.

The Ministry of Education said that school feeding has been an integral part of the Government of Rwanda’s strategy to address children’s hunger during the school day, to support Rwanda’s human capital creation, and to expand access to educational opportunities to the disadvantaged children, particularly learners from low-wealth families.