Thread by @equal_education

[Joint statement] Some improvements in food distribution but latest National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) report still lacks critical details & fails to fix obstacles to collecting of meals & parcels. #SchoolMealsNow

Read statement here: equaleducation.org.za/2020/08/19/joi…

@SECTION27news & @EElawcentre, representing Equal Education & the governing bodies of two Limpopo schools, yesterday wrote to Minister of @DBE_SA, Angie Motshekga, & Education MECs about their latest NSNP progress report required by the court. #SchoolMealsNow #9MillionMeals

The reports should detail developments on the distribution of school meals to all of the over 9 million qualifying learners – including those who are not currently in school. #SchoolMealsNow #9MillionMeals #FamiliesNeedNSNP

The latest report from the @DBE_SA & PEDs, is more coherent than previous documents filed with the court & promisingly shows an increase in the number of meals being made available to qualifying learners in all provinces since we launched the urgent court case. #SchoolMealsNow

However, the report says there are barriers to learners accessing meals. Rather than fulfilling the structural order handed down in the case of EE & Others v Minister of @DBE_SA & Others, this report still lacks crucial info & plans to address obstacles to the collecting of food.

The report claims the main problem with rollout of the NSNP is learners aren’t collecting meals or food parcels because of recent temporary closure of schools, fears around physical distancing & the lack of scholar transport. The report doesn't offer plans to address challenges.

We believe that this unfairly puts the responsibility for the failure to implement the NSNP on learners & families, rather than recognising safety measures taken by schools have not been communicated properly & learners do not all know when & how they can collect school meals.

It is also the responsibility of each province to ensure all safety protocols developed to contain the spread of #Covid19 in schools are properly implemented. #SchoolMealsNow #9MillionMeals #FamiliesNeedNSNP

While there is an improvement from the first set of documents we received from the national & provincial edu depts, the @DBE_SA & provinces filed a consolidated (& incomplete) report which lacks detail on crucial aspects of the NSNP in some provinces. #SchoolMealsNow

In our letter we have asked Minister Motshekga to provide guidelines to the PEDs to fix these problems. We are requesting:
* a consistent way of collecting & reporting data on the number of meals actually collected by learners;
#SchoolMealsNow

* a nationwide communications strategy to inform learners & school communities physical distancing protocols are in place & learners can come to school to collect their meals safely, even if their grade has not returned to school yet;
#SchoolMealsNow

* that scholar transport be made available for learners who live far from the nearest school to collect food (a promise previously made by provinces);

We have also asked PEDs provide business plans that show that enough money is being put toward school meals. #SchoolMealsNow

It is unacceptable that learners & families may be unaware that they can fetch the school meals they are entitled to because of poor communication from education departments, or because they might not have transport to school. #SchoolMealsNow

We will continue monitoring the delivery of food with schools throughout the country so that we have a sense of the uptake of the NSNP & any obstacles to the uptake, as well as how these problems are being fixed - or neglected - by the @DBE_SA. #SchoolMealsNow #9MillionMeals