Michael Nkalane
A TOTAL of 300 pupils from one of Cape Town’s oldest primary schools were provided a wholesome, healthy meal yesterday – thanks to the Peninsula School Feeding Association (PSFA).
Yesterday pupils at St Paul’s Primary School in Bo-Kaap were given meals.
Children at foundation phase, comprising Grade R to 3 pupils, were first to be served, followed by pupils in grades 4 to 7.
School principal Yeye Mgudlwa expressed gratitude at PSFA’s generosity.
“I have no words to thank them. I have children who wake up as early as 5am and come from as far as Khayelitsha.
“They come here without having eaten a breakfast, and most don’t have money for lunch as their parents cannot afford it.”
Mgudlwa said pupils’ concentration levels had increased since PSFA started feeding pupils three months ago.
“Their marks have improved. This (feeding) will contribute a lot to our pass rate. You can not teach a child on an empty stomach.”
St Paul’s teachers watched as their pupils lined up for the meals in their school’s hall as about 10 volunteers served them. The volunteers are unemployed parents who receive a monthly stipend.
PSFA fund-raising manager Charles Grey said he was inundated with requests from concerned principals for assistance, because their children were either sick in class or did not turn up for school because of hunger.
He said PSFA fed more than 28 000 hungry schoolchildren every day. The children include those at early childhood development centres, and primary and high schools.
The association also provided food to students at some Further Education and Training Colleges across the province.
“After we have received a request, we assess it. We then approve it and let teachers select those children in need of a feeding scheme as they know each child’s situation.”
Grey said the PSFA’s school feeding programme was structured to address hunger and was impacting positively on the child’s nutrition.
He said each meal costs R2 per pupil a day, or R395 a year.
PSFA receives funding from many generous donors who have adopted a school and, so doing, contribute to the nutritional needs of pupils. These donors include individuals, companies, trusts, foundations, privileged schools, NPOs, churches and clubs.
PSFA was established on March 10, 1958 after the then National Party government ended the national school feeding programme due to “wastage”, based on ineffective administrative control and accountability.
Soon after, it became clear the need for school feeding was great, as many of the schoolchildren came from families who lived below the breadline.
The urgency was enough to justify independent action, regardless of the apartheid government’s response to the outcry.
As a result of frequent requests from concerned school principals for assistance, about 60 members of the Rotary Club of Paarden Eiland (now Table Bay) got together and decided to pick up where the government had left off. Three days later, the PSFA was formed.
To donate to the association, call 021 447 6020 and for more information visit www.psfa.org.za