School milk feeding program in Nyanza hits snag

NYANZA - The One Cup of Milk per Child program has not been implemented in Nyanza District since the beginning of the 3rd term, The Sunday Times reports. School children and teachers in five Nyanza District schools, where the pilot program has been running, confirmed that there has not been any supply of milk since the beginning of the school term. “The milk program was stopped and we don’t have any information. However, it has been very important in promoting the education and feeding of most of the children,” André Bazaza, the deputy headmaster of Gasoro Primary School, said. Prime Minister Bernard Makuza launched the program last year and the pilot projects were conducted in Nyanza and Kamonyi Districts in the Southern Province. The beneficiary pupils, who seemed unaware of the development, acknowledged that the program has improved the performance in class, sports and participation in class sessions. “We miss the milk. It had improved my health, and personally I would perform well in class and sports,” said 16 year old Jean Damascene Kayiranga. The district education officer, Patricia Niyonsaba, confirmed the development and said that the issue has been raised to concerned partners in the program- the Ministry of Agriculture, and the milk suppliers- Nyanza Dairy, which is run by Agro Processing Industries (API). The CEO of API, Gen. Alexis Ibambasi, said that the program has been stopped tentatively due to the process of changes in the initial supply contract. “The Agriculture ministry requested that the program be stopped in order to come up with a new agreement on supplying more schools. There have been delays in this process; however, the milk will be supplied as soon as the new arrangements and agreements are signed,” Ibambasi said. In a phone interview with The Sunday Times, yesterday, the Minister of Agriculture, Agnes Kalibata, refuted the claims from the schools saying that the program was successful as had been planned. “The program of One Cup of Milk per child is going on very well and the delays in supplying the milk to some of the selected schools is due to the slight changes in the arrangement concerning the supply,” Kalibata said. She added that the objective of introducing one cup of milk per child initiative was to reduce the level of malnutrition among pupils in the schools of the Southern Province saying that this will enable the pupils to perform well academically. She added that the ministry is planning to extend the program to at least100 schools which will include those in Karongi and Ngororero Districts in the Western Province. According to the minister, the schools are selected based on the level of malnutrition. Kalibata called upon all heads of schools in the Southern and Western Provinces to support the program and to always seek any advice regarding the matter from the ministry saying it would enable the programme to be implemented efficiently and effectively. Ends