School Meals: An Experience Children Want To Share With The World

The provision of daily school meals is renewing the motivation for children to attend school and aspire to excel academically. This incentive is fostering new narratives associated with learning and schooling that used to be an afterthought for many children and parents in rural communities in central and northern Mozambique.

School dropouts and poor attendance rates are still a common denominator in this landscape, due to a complex set of barriers - long distances, food insecurity, early marriages - that devoid children of their rights for accessing a proper education.

Above this status quo stands Kelvin, 12-years-old, who is confident in his potential to one day become a teacher. And school meals are the perfect fuel for his dreams and aspirations.

“Even after I take my meals, during lunch break, I’m always focused and don’t fall asleep in class because I want to be a teacher. During my free times I like to play with my friends and dance,” said the student form Milange district.

Kelvin wishes that more children in Mozambique and around the world can experience the benefits of having good meals…and he already imagines a possible solution.

“If I was a president, even for a day, I would decree that all schools have farms where teachers and children could grow vegetables to prepare meals,” he proposed.

For Victoria,15, going to school hungry is a thing of the past and school meals are a big part for her to thrive academically and in sports.

“I like to play football and school meals keeps me energized all day long, inside and outside the classroom,” she said.

Kelvin and Victoria are among 85,000 school-aged children who have access to daily meals in 157 schools in the provinces of Nampula and Zambézia, provided by a consortium led by World Vision Mozambique, with partners including the National School Feeding Program of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Catholic Relief Services, the Civil Society Capacity Building and Learning Centre, and International Food Policy Research Institute.

The Partnering for Sustainable Education Outcomes, as it is called, is an integrated project that assists with donated fortified rice, lentils and vegetable oil, combined with locally procured vegetables from farmers associations. 

Parents are providing unwavering support to school feeding as they see the potential benefits in reducing dropouts and boosting children’s motivation to attend and complete their education.

“We used to force our children to go to school, but since the introduction of school meals they arrive early in school and don’t skip classes,” said Ernesto adding that “we haven’t reported any episode of them falling sick due to the intake of this food,” he concluded.

Studies have shown that programmes can increase enrolment by an average of 9 percent. Sílvio, a school headmaster, is witnessing the progressive change of attitudes towards school attendance.

“Before this project, dropouts were frequent. Many students didn’t finish the academic year and interrupted their lessons around the celebration of the 1st of June (The International Children’s Day). Very often I had to go door-to-door and mobilize children to return to school. But with school meals, even children who abandoned school are returning”.

For sustaining and increase the availability of food in the school, Sílvio and fellow teachers have started a school vegetable garden where students are also involved in planting seeds. These gardens also serve as practical learning environments where students can get hands-on experience in agriculture, nutrition, and environmental stewardship, and will eventually reduce reliance on external food sources, boosting sustainability and cost-efficiency.

By Benjamim Capito, Communications Coordinator