Blue, khaki, another blue, khaki and soon I see more and more dotted around me; these, are students coming from school to look for lunch around town. They walk around idly from one place to another in a manner that in Kinya-rwanda we call kuzerera (moving about aimlessly). 

I found this profoundly disturbing, I will admit, because for all my school days, I never had to go out even once for lunch. Maybe, this might be attributed to the fact that I was studying from a foreign country.

However, I still find it queer that some schools here do not provide their students with lunch and others let their students go beyond the school perimeters in search of lunch.    

There could be various reasons why schools don’t provide lunch but do those reasons outweigh the dangers? With all the things that happen around town, how sure are we that the students are able to concentrate in their lessons when they get back? 

And, are we sure that these students always have the money to buy lunch for themselves? From what I have seen, many, actually the majority are just always moving up and down, around town moving from one place to another.

I have been in many restaurants around town and believe me when I tell you that I don’t see that many blues and khakis if any in any of them whenever I go there. So, the question remains where do these students go?

Some just move around window shopping from one area to another. Those who can afford to buy themselves lunch, eat from makeshift restaurants whose hygiene might sometimes be wanting. The meals there are affordable though.

They go for about 200 to 300 francs. But this might put them at costlier health risks. For some students, it is an opportunity to get drug merchandise from their dealers in town and take it to the school after lunch where they sell it to their fellow students in order to get a commission. 

They then use the commission to cover their lunch costs, transport fares and other expenses like clothes in order to look ‘cool’.

This is not something that I have just plucked off my mind to make my story entertaining. I have been with a student whose name I will conceal for safety.

He was expelled from school because he came back with ganja (marijuana) to sell to his friends when he returned from lunch.  

So generally, we are allowing drug dealers to infiltrate our schools, recruit and expose our children to drug addiction and for what? Just because we refuse to devise a way of introducing lunch meals in schools! 

The schools when asked say that they cannot provide lunch for the students on the amount of school fees paid by parents. They also said that when they come up with a decision to increase school fees in order to cover the costs, the parents complain that they can not afford the increase.  

It is understandable that we are not a very wealthy nation and cash may be hard to come by but can’t we really put in an effort for the sake of protecting the students?

Can’t the parents come to table with the school authorities and come up with a way to do this without the school incurring losses? Would parents rather they spent money treating their food poisoned children or visiting them at delinquent correctional centres?

The government should also come in and make it a regulation for these private schools that do not give lunch to provide it and, also stop schools from letting some of the students go out for lunch.

It should also contribute to the students’ meals so the schools and parents do not have to spend high. After all they pay taxes to the government and in turn it is supposed to make our lives better and so a little help could be appreciated.

Some of you reading the article might think that I am just being critical but let’s face the truth; I know you have noticed the problem and it has probably run through your mind on occasion.

Well, here I am trying to voice it and hoping that someone up there might just read this and maybe the powers that be could help solve the problem. Even the so called Day scholars should be assured of lunch.

Don’t be surprised if some get home only to go fetch water and carry out other chores on empty stomachs. How would such a child concentrate in its studies? 

It doesn’t reflect well on us as a country when guests pass through town during lunch and see students in uniform loitering around at a time when they are supposed to be in school.

email: nmranne@yahoo.com