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Milk supply to schools eagerly waited
2007-02-24 07:28:24
By Editor
The government has announced that it plans to supply free fresh milk to all public-owned primary schools.
According to the Minister for Livestock Development, this is part of long-term strategy to create local markets for livestock products and create jobs.
If implemented, this project shall go a long way to boost Tanzania’s ambitious education project, which is targeted to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
The bulk of the primary school pupils come from rural areas, where poverty is rampant, and they could be going to school with half-empty stomachs.
Much as there is an aggressive drive to enlist all schooling age children for studies, as well as curbing truancy, there is a need to ask ourselves as to why there are so many drop outs before they reach Standard Seven.
We have normally singled out some common factors, such as premature marriages, early pregnancies, parents greed for dowry, child labour and others.
However, we have failed to see that many school children find studying a troublesome burden because they always feel hungry while in class.
This happens even in the urban centres, where many pupils also come from low income families.
We therefore have to review the whole issue of poor retention of pupils, because the having of more and better primary school pupils does not only depend on the quality of instruction, but also in the friendliness of the study environment.
As we strive to improve education inputs, we have to remember that proper nutrition is also essential if our school children have to gain more from their studies.
We are proud that the pass mark of pupils sitting for Standard Seven National Examinations has increased by 40% over the past five years, yet we believe that more can be achieved if the study situation is improved.
This will call for increased public financing essential for education, and that is how things should be. We have no other option except to eradicate illiteracy.
However, that cannot be possible if we shall not be able to strengthen institutional arrangements so that all bottlenecks that hinder the proper administration of education are removed.
Although the Minister for Livestock Development has announced the plan to supply milk to our primary schools, we hope that he as well as other authorities know only too well that action speaks louder than words.
The government should now move from making promises to delivering. Time is not on our side. It is also hoped that all the necessary homework shall have been done before the plan is implemented, so that public funds are not wasted and people’s expectations frustrated.
All in all, the minister`s statement was quite meaningful, because he said that the new initiative was aimed at influencing change in behaviour right from childhood so as to make the future generation cultivate a culture of drinking milk.
This is a dream we all want to see realized.
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