EE relieved school feeding programme to resume

Since the closure of schools in March, civil society groups raised serious concerns around the halting of the programme during the national lockdown.

CAPE TOWN - As schools prepare to reopen for grade 7 and grade 12 pupils next week, rights group Equal Education said that it was a relief that the Basic Education Department heeded the call to reopen the national nutrition school programme.

Since the closure of schools in March, civil society groups raised serious concerns around the halting of the programme during the national lockdown

The group's Roné McFarlane: "Around 9 million learners receive a meal from school every day through this programme and for many of those learners that meal is the only meal for the day. Yesterday, the DBE announced that not only will the school nutrition programme reopen for learners who will be returning to school but also for learners who will remain at home."