Effective from the next academic term, schools in the same district will buy major foodstuffs such as rice, maize flour, and cooking oil at the same price, under the direction of district management, Education Minister Valentine Uwamariya said.
She indicated that the government was looking at ways to address the challenges affecting school feeding for all students which includes the purchase of food.
Uwamariya made the disclosure on March 28, during a session with the House’s Standing Committee on Education, Technology, Culture, and Youth.
School head teachers who spoke to The New Times said that the proposed food procurement arrangement should be carefully considered to ensure that its implementation is effective and benefits schools and students’ nutrition.
Currently, they said, the common food procurement practice was that school management was offering tenders through open bidding, whereby the successful bidder was awarded a tender. But, day schools have the option to buy commodities directly from the farmers.
The Minister said it was discovered that there were cases where schools were procuring the same foods at extremely different prices, which involved malpractices and undue benefits for the responsible entities.
She exposed that they evaluated the awarded foodstuff procurement tenders and found that though schools were located in the same district, one had procured them at twice the price at which another did. She cited rice, maize flour, and cooking oil.
"There were cases we analysed and realised that the [food supply] tender was awarded to the school leader, indirectly,” she said, pointing out that it was observed that there were people who were taking advantage of the procurement of food for schools.
"Going forward, we agreed that starting from the next academic term and the following years, food price negotiations will be done at the district level, so that schools buy them when it is well known that in a given area, they buy major commodities at the same price.”
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The head teacher of Gisenyi Adventist Secondary School in Rubavu District, Oswald Kariwabo, said because the government is setting prices (for some commodities), the new move could be a relief for schools.
"I think the goal is that suppliers will be bidding at the district level, and agree on prices with the district. Then, the district will pick the bidder with the lowest price, and tell schools to source a particular food item from that bidder. That would be better for us,” he said.
For the head teacher of Kagarama Secondary School in Kicukiro District, Samuel Nkurunziza, buying food items at the same prices in a given district was possible, if districts were the ones to implement the procurement on behalf of schools in its territory. The school has more than 1,000 students.
"I think that would ease the burden of schools, especially because we do not have experienced people in procurement,” he said, adding that the school tender committee comprises some teachers and parents whose children study at the school.
However, he expressed concern that the implementation of the decision might not be easy because there are many schools in a district, and schools have different food needs.
Joseph Nshimye, the head teacher of Groupe Scolaire Riba in Nyaruguru District, said that prices of commodities differ depending on the supplier and were on the increase mainly after the Russia-Ukraine war. He cited maize which costs Rwf1,000 currently up from Rwf710 between February and March 2022 in the district.
He suggested that the district should be the one to procure food for schools, pointing out that market prices cannot be dictated by the district, but rather, determined by the forces of supply and demand.