Mary’s Meals on Tuesday commemorated World Porridge Day with a call for individuals and the corporate world to partner with the organisation to reach out to all vulnerable children with the school feeding programme.
Speaking during the commemoration at Mbayani Primary School in Blantyre, Mary’s Meals Country Director, Angela Chipeta -Khonje, spoke of the need to invest in the school feeding programme so that no child should be left behind.
Currently, Mary’s Meals is feeding 1000035 children in 989 primary schools in the 24 districts of the country, spending K19000 per child, per year.
“The programme has helped to improve school enrolment; learners concentration in class and ensured academic progression. We are collaborating with the school health and nutrition department and they make sure that all Covid-19 guidelines are followed,” said Chipeta-Khonje.
Blantyre urban district education manager Anita Kaliu hailed Mary’s Meals for re-introducing the programme after an 18-month break due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Covid-19 disrupted school feeding programme and enrolment dropped drastically. We are glad the programme is back because the take-home rations we used to give the learners did not help because the flour that was provided for example, to one child, could cater for the entire family,” she said.
Mbayani Primary school headteacher Bulla Mbwana said the school which has 8470 learners, prepares 25 pots of porridge a day, each pot consuming 20 kilogrammes of porridge flour.
