Plea made for mandatory school meals in Mara Region

Bunda. The Mara Regional Consultative Committee (RCC) has been asked to include mandatory school feeding plans to ensure constant availability of meals at school.

Speaking during the opening of the school feeding sustainability stakeholders meeting, organized by the Project Concern International (PCI) on Friday, the Mara Regional Commissioner Dr Charles Mlingwa said that it was difficult for authorities to improve education in the region without a good school feeding plan.

He asked district councils to plan and implement a budget for school feeding in their districts. He said good feeding would improve education in the region and raise the level of attentiveness and school attendance.

Speaking at the meeting, the PCI Country Director Ms Amy Cunningham said that there was no way that education can be improved without provision of meals at school.

She urged communities in the region to cooperate with the government and other stakeholders in trying to find ways of establishing a sustainable feeding program in schools.

She said that her organization has been providing school meals in 231 Primary schools within three districts of Mara region.

Currently, she added, her project is into the third phase which is expected to last for five years. The target of the project is to reach 235,000 primary and pre-primary schools.

Ms Cunningham said that in the first and second phase of the program, they were providing meals at schools five days in a week but during this third program they will be providing food three days in a  week. The remaining days, she said, will be up to the community to help.