NA WA O : Students Begs For Food In Zamfara

Secondary school students who are finding it difficult to feed because of the poor feeding system in public schools have resorted to street begging to feed themselves, some students disclosed to our correspondent.

The state government has introduced free school feeding programme under which junior and senior secondary students were intended to get free meals.

In June, last year, the Professor Tukur Adamu Jangebe-led committee established by the state government to assess secondary schools education, said over 900 students missed their breakfast in one secondary school visited in Gusau, the state capital.

The committee also lamented the poor quality of food being supplied to the students, alleging that in some of the secondary schools visited, the bread being given to the students was not properly packaged.

Some of the students, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said most of them have stopped taking the free meals as only pap and millet flour dish, popularly known as “tuwo” is served them daily.

They said some of them have resorted to taking to the streets away from their boarding schools to beg for food.

A parent, Kabir Lawal, said “If the state government cannot feed the students, it should allow parents to bring foodstuffs for their children.”

Another parent, who craved for anonymity, also said that he was forced to send food to his son on monthly basis.

When contacted, the Chairman of the School Feeding Board Alhaji Atiku Maradun said the board was not experiencing any problem regarding school feeding.

He said, last year, the government spent over N1.4bn on the feeding programme which, according to him, has increased students enrolment into schools across the state.

He said the allegation was politically motivated, noting that the board has a staff in each secondary school in the state and no report was made of inadequate feeding in any school.

He said that apart from the food provided to the students, the students were also given soaps, detergent, tissue paper and body cream among other things.

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