{"id":19077,"date":"2022-08-21T10:31:44","date_gmt":"2022-08-21T10:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/keeping-kids-in-schools"},"modified":"2022-08-21T10:50:36","modified_gmt":"2022-08-21T10:50:36","slug":"keeping-kids-in-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/keeping-kids-in-schools","title":{"rendered":"Keeping kids in schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>The government of Japan through the World Food Programme (WFP) has provided food aid worth JPY250 million (about M31 million) for the school feeding programme.<\/p>\n

The donation is aimed at providing food and nutrition assistance to 60 000 pre-primary school children in Early Childhood Care Development (ECCD) at 2 000 early child care centres across the country for two years.<\/p>\n

Three months ago, thousands of primary school students were on the verge of starvation because catering companies had suspended services due to delayed payments from the government.<\/p>\n

This led to a number of students dropping out of school particularly those who relied on the school feeding programme to keep hunger at bay. According to the Lesotho Vulnerability Assessment Committee, July 2022, about 521 000 people are food insecure (320 000 rural and 201 000 urban) and need humanitarian support.<\/p>\n

The Ambassador of Japan, Norio Maruyama, says Lesotho is facing prolonged deterioration in food security, high commodity prices and Covid-19 negative impacts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are to worsen the nutrition situation around the end of this year,\u201d Maruyama said. Maruyama said Japan decided to provide food assistance including tinned fish (about 230 tons) and fortified food (about 510 tons) to Lesotho.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis meal will be served during lunch time, supplementing the specialised nutritious mid-morning porridge prepared from super-cereal-plus, also provided by the WFP,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe aid is aimed at improving food security, and support the economic and social development of the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would like to continue to contribute toward improving the livelihood of vulnerable people in Lesotho.
\nThe WFP Country Director, Aurore Rusiga, said the contribution through the Kennedy Round Food Assistance will support the food security and nutrition of vulnerable children.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis outstanding support not only saves lives as short-term benefit, but also promotes the changing lives agenda through resilience building,\u201d Rusiga said.<\/p>\n

She said the support came at a critical time of a global food crisis when the world is breaking records in numbers of food insecure people due to climate shocks, high food and fuel prices.<\/p>\n

\u201cLesotho is also hardly hit and the food insecure population is likely to increase further due to decreased livelihood opportunities and increased food and non-food commodity prices,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She also said the contribution comes at a time when more voices are raising awareness about the importance of investing in \u201clearning beyond investing in the pupil\u201d. She encouraged paying more attention to inequalities that affect the children\u2019s ability to learn, like rising poverty, hunger and malnutrition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWork with health, social protection and food security sectors to create a conducive environment for education and avoid the long-term effect of today\u2019s global food crisis that could result in human capital loss for the future,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said through the contribution, the WFP will bridge the food security gap and ensure \u201ccontinuous and undisrupted\u201d provisions of school meals. \u201cSupporting the pre-school pupils, majority of them whom are orphans and vulnerable children from rural areas with high rates of malnutrition, will help this group attain their food security and nutritional needs.
\nThe Ministry of Education\u2019s Principal Secretary of Basic Education, Dr Lira Khama, said the school feeding programme contributes to efforts to address social challenges confronting several vulnerable groups in communities such as malnutrition, under-nutrition, stunting and low enrolment rates at pre-primary and primary levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the years, this invaluable contribution has indeed made school feeding one of the largest safety-net programmes in Lesotho,\u201d Dr Khama said.<\/p>\n

Dr Khama said ample studies have also shown that \u201ca well-designed school feeding programme can be a panacea for some of the bottlenecks persisting in our education system\u201d.<\/p>\n

He says school feeding is critical in addressing nutrition challenges faced by children in Lesotho, particularly when the diet provided includes macro and micronutrients to support the physical and mental development of children at the critical age group of two to three years found in pre-schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe provision of school meals has thus proven to be even more critical in addressing these challenges faced by Basotho children from underprivileged families,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He says the ministry recognises school feeding as an investment and not an expenditure. He says there is evidence to suggest that improved nutrition leads to improved cognitive capacities of children.<\/p>\n

He further said other benefits of school feeding include improved school attendance and access. \u201cWe are aware that many children attend school because it is a place where they can access a decent meal.
\nAdditionally, he said hunger and malnutrition have adverse effects on the physical and mental health of children and negatively affects their behavioural and emotional development.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, children are at the core of the school feeding policy.
\nThis augurs well with the rights of the child, especially Article 4 on the Protection of Rights, which requires governments to create environments where children can grow and reach their full potential.
\nDr Khama said under-nutrition and stunting is high at 43 percent among children aged two to three, the majority of whom are found in pre-schools hence their gratitude to Japan and the WFP for focusing on supporting this age group.<\/p>\n

He assured their partners that the ministry will do everything possible to ensure that the food commodities reach those that they are intended for. Foreign Affairs Minister, \u2019Mat\u0161epo Molise-Ramakoae, said the donation advances further the solid cooperation between the two countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis donation will go a long way in the history of our bilateral relations with Japan which spans across a myriad of sectors. It has grown, deepened and matured over the years,\u201d Molise-Ramakoae said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt provides an opportunity for us to reflect on our relations and further intensify our cooperation for the mutual benefit of our people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Molise-Ramakoae said it comes at a time when Lesotho is registering the lowest harvest of summer cropping due to the torrential rainfall that has besieged it throughout the last summer season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis noble gesture will beyond a reasonable doubt make a positive impact, particularly to those young and vulnerable children who might otherwise have access to food due to the ever-increasing scourge of food insecurity in the country.
\n\u201cIt is our fervent hope that the relentless efforts Japan is making through the noble initiative will continue to shape the socio-economic development of our country and Africa as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. The government of Japan through the World Food Programme (WFP) has provided food aid worth JPY250 million (about M31 million) for the school feeding programme. The donation is aimed at providing food and nutrition assistance to 60 000 pre-primary school children in Early Childhood Care Development (ECCD) at 2 000 early child […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":19076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8,16],"tags":[233,246,245,494],"class_list":["post-19077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-policy"],"yoast_head":"\nKeeping kids in schools - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The government of Japan through the World Food Programme (WFP) has provided food aid worth JPY250 million (about M31 mil ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/keeping-kids-in-schools\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Keeping kids in schools\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The government of Japan through the World Food Programme (WFP) has provided food aid worth JPY250 million (about M31 mil ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/keeping-kids-in-schools\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-21T10:31:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-21T10:50:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_20-63020ddfed17a.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1536\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/keeping-kids-in-schools#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/keeping-kids-in-schools\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Keeping kids in schools\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-21T10:31:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-21T10:50:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/keeping-kids-in-schools\"},\"wordCount\":1051,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/keeping-kids-in-schools#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_20-63020ddfed17a.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"policy\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/keeping-kids-in-schools#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/keeping-kids-in-schools\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/keeping-kids-in-schools\",\"name\":\"Keeping kids in schools - 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