National School Nutrition Programme

A national school feeding scheme was initiated within 100 days of President Nelson Mandela’s inauguration as South Africa’s first democratically elected head of state in 1994.

Known initially as the Primary School Nutrition Programme, and classified as a Presidential Lead Project under the Reconstruction and Development Programme, it was initiated and managed for the first 10 years by the national Department of Health in conjunction with provincial health departments.

Schools in areas with a concentration of poor households are targeted for the intervention and all children at these schools benefit from the programme. The aims of the programme are both health- and education-related: to combat malnutrition and to improve the ability of children to concentrate during lessons. There is anecdotal evidence that the programme has improved school attendance in many areas.

By the time the nutrition programme was transferred to the Department of Education, it was feeding about 4.5 million primary school learners every school day.

Since its transfer to the Department of Education, the feeding scheme has been augmented by a school food gardens project, implemented with the support of the Department of Agriculture, local authorities and non-governmental organisations. These gardens are not only used to produce meals for learners but also to teach them about food production and management.

In 2005/6, the Department reported:

• The National School Nutrition Programme was feeding 4.9 million learners from Grade R to Grade 7.
• Nearly 90% of the R1.1 billion allocated to the programme was utilised.
• Part-time jobs were generated for 29 222 women who prepared and served the meals.

Some provinces – such as Gauteng – have extended the feeding scheme to include secondary schools by augmenting the national budget allocation with funds from the provincial budget.