Juliet Jacob looks at how the current economic hardship is robbing school children from eating healthy foods in school, as their parents grapple with financial tough times which makes them to forgo or have half-measure lunch packs they once enjoyed.
Coping Without Lunch or Healthy Feeding in School
It used to be a top priority for parents no matter their economic class to package foods to serve as lunch for their children in school.
Going to school was interesting for the kids. And learning was not a stress.
Returning to school has become uninteresting for many Nigerian kids. Because they would go starving, hence, their parent can no longer afford launch package for them. Parents are dreading the return to school. The reason is not far- fetched. The living cost currently, is becoming increasingly difficult for majority of parents to cope with.
Ordinarily, returning to school after the holidays comes with special joy and fulfilment for the parents and children. But with the hardship in the land caused by the escalating prices of commodities parents are finding things hard, so, they consider lunch or meals during school as an added burden, leading them to deny their children meals while the school lasts.
Although education is vital for a child’s future and the nation’s development, sending a child to school is a costly venture.
Quality Education
Despite their efforts to provide quality education and secure a better future, the challenging economy and high inflation rates are making this goal extremely difficult to achieve.
The beginning of the academic year is typically tough for parents, especially as their children move up to the next level and require new books and materials.
Economic Hardship and Fuel Subsidy Removal
Furthermore, the recent removal of fuel subsidy by the government has only worsened economic hardships, causing prices of goods and services to rise, putting returning students’ parents under even more pressure.
Nigerians are losing faith in the National School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) due to its failure to address the issue of out-of-school children in the country, according to experts.
Launched by the Federal Government in 2016, the program was designed to combat challenges like malnutrition and poverty among Nigerian children, which impact their education.
UNICEF
UNICEF reports that Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children globally, with 10.5 million kids affected.
Many Nigerian children do not transit from primary to secondary school, and the removal of fuel subsidy has worsened the education sectors
According to data collected in 2020, Nigeria has a population of 206,739,928, with 52 percent being children aged 0-17 years.
The country ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, outlining the rights of those under 18 and assigning duty-bearers for their realization.
As a signatory to the CRC, Nigeria must provide periodic reports on its adherence to the convention, monitored by UNICEF.
Policies
One crucial method is conducting a thorough analysis of the situation of children to highlight development challenges, evaluate policies, and suggest solutions to enhance the well-being of Nigerian children.
The Africa Health Report found that parents and guardians are concerned about the expensive school supplies such as textbooks, exercise books, uniforms, bags, and other items, as well as the high cost of transportation.
Additionally, private schools in the FCT and surrounding areas have raised their school fees to keep up with the economic situation, while government schools, the only option for many low-income families, have not increased their fees.
Parents, Guardians, Teachers Speak
Africa Health Report conducted interviews with parent, teachers, and students in public schools.
Speaking with African Health Report in one of the public school at Dutse under Bwari area council, FCT. One of the students by the name Gabriel said “I’m from a family of six children and I am the last child I’m in Primary 5, we usually eat three times a day before the economy got worse but right now we only eat twice a day. I used to take food to school for my lunch but I don’t do that anymore”.
Also Ifeanyi in the same school said, “Before now they used to serve us different meals in school but all of a sudden it was stopped and since then we only eat what we can get from home, recently my parents have been complaining bitterly about how expensive things are right now and even in my school here pure water that we usually buy for 3, fifty Naira right now it is fifty Naira for each one, sometimes if I’m unable to eat at home before leaving for school my parents usually give me like a hundred Naira to get snacks during break time but now with hundred Naira I can’t buy anything reasonable even biscuits that was sold for fifty Naira it’s now hundred Naira so most times I’ll be hungry throughout my time in school.
In an interview with one of the teachers in L.E.A primary school Dutse, Miss Eze Charity, she said “Before now the government usually cook for the students two to three days in a week but since the economic crisis that has stopped and since then we’ve been observing some changes in the students for example, when they were giving them food you could see the joy and willingness in them to learn but these days most of them are usually moody throughout the class and some even end up crying because of hunger and there is no way a child can learn when they’re hungry because most of them don’t come with food or money apart from the food given to them in school, we’ve observed that these days some of the students look so unkempt with torn school uniforms and even with school bags that are due for change and all that can be attributed to the harsh economy in the country.
Speaking with Mrs Ifeoma Agu a mother of five kids, she said, “life has been so unbearable since the removal of subsidy by the government we could hardly feed, the price of everything in the market has doubled some even tripled but our salaries remain the same, in my family we can no longer afford three square meals so we have to improvise by forfeiting either breakfast or lunch so most times they go to school hungry and even when we manage to prepare any meal, it has nothing to do with quality we just eat whatever we have and pray to God to handle the rest, our biggest fear now is that none of our three kids should fall sick because that will be a huge problem for us because they will be no way I and their father can foot any medical bills right now”.
Ray of Hope
But there is a little bit of hope because President Bola Tinubu has stated that the 2024 budget includes a N100 billion allocation for school feeding programs, a move aimed at increasing school enrollment and tackling malnutrition among students.
Tinubu recently ordered the transfer of the program from the Humanitarian Ministry to the Education Ministry, in an effort to not only provide nutritious meals but also boost attendance and improve learning outcomes.
We just hope and pray the government sticks to their promise.
The government should take urgent steps to address the food crisis, cost of living challenges, rising prices of food items, to avert having a generation of future leaders with poorly developed brains. The government must look ahead to close the gap in human development and resource, adequately prepared for the future responsibilities.
