Secondary school pupils to start getting meals Minister Lazarus Dokora
Minister Lazarus Dokora

Minister Lazarus Dokora

Thandeka Moyo, Chronicle Reporter
SECONDARY school pupils will start receiving meals at their learning institutions after the government secured sponsorship.

Speaking at a pre-budget seminar in Bulawayo last week the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Dr Lazarus Dokora said he had signed four memoranda of understanding with interested partners to improve the quality of education in the country.

He said only pupils at the infant level were benefitting from the feeding programme.

“The programme will be extended to junior school next year and to secondary schools later as planned. However, it looks like we will extend the programme to other levels earlier since our partners are willing to fund many projects that will avail food for pupils.”

“About 96 percent of our budget allocation went towards salaries and we were left with limited resources to run the ministry. However, we have signed up some partners who are willing to help us improve the education sector,” said Dr Dokora.

“They have shown interest in drilling boreholes in our schools, setting up solar systems and helping our children in horticulture projects. At this rate we are confident that soon we will extend the school feeding scheme to secondary school pupils.”

Minister Dokora said his ministry needed about 8 500 additional workers for the smooth operations.

“We hope that we will get more money so that we fill that gap which affects our operations. So far we have conducted workshops and trained about 70 000 teachers on the new curriculum whose implementation will bring about many changes.”

He also emphasised that schools must not send away children for non-payment of fees.

Cabinet approved a $200 million national schools feeding scheme to ensure food security following the El Nino-induced drought.

@thamamoe

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