Address by the Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angie Motshekga, MP, on the Occasion of the Official Handover of Kitchens held at Phuthikwena Combined School, Limpopo
Programme Director
MEC for Education, Mr M.I. Kgetjepe
Acting Head of Limpopo Education Department, Ms N.B. Mutheiwana
Marketing, PR and CSI Manager GAME, Ms Elisabeth Ric Hansen
The Executive Mayor of Sekhukhune, Cllr Mogobo Magabe
The Ward Councillor, Cllr Mputlu Mahlangu
SGB Chairperson and Members Present
The School Principal Ms Monyani Masina
Educators, Parents and Learners
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Good Morning, Thobela.
I am delighted to be here today on the occasion of the official handover of 10 Game “Amalunchbox” kitchen containers. The kitchens will be distributed to six schools here in Limpopo and four more in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Out of the many, your school has been selected as one of the beneficiaries of this generous support from Massdiscounters, a holding company of Game Stores.
This is a result of partnership we have with the Massdiscounters to support the National School Nutrition Programme.
The National School Nutrition Programme is one of the most important government interventions in alleviating poverty in school- going children. Through this programme, we provide nutritious cooked meals to about 9.2 million learners every school day.
There is empirical evidence that school feeding schemes lead to increased enrolment, increased participation in class, and high levels of concentration. As the Department of Basic Education, this programme enhances our resolve in meeting our goal of “improved quality basic education for all”.
Through “Amalunchbox” initiative, we will be in a position to enhance the standards of hygiene and food safety. The programme therefore strives to promote and support food safety and kitchen facility standards in line with the general hygiene requirements promulgated by the Department of Health.
The protection of our children remains a priority; hence we want to avoid at all costs any risk associated with food poisoning and contamination throughout the entire food value chain. All these processes must adhere to the Department of Health safety and hygiene standards. It is against this background that the Department of Basic Education entered into a partnership with Massdiscounters by signing a Memorandum of Agreement in 2010.
The area for collaboration was aimed at improving kitchen facilities through the Game Amalunchbox project to the underprivileged schools. Through this project, Game makes a meaningful contribution to disadvantaged schools nationwide by providing them with the facilities.
Access to such facilities permits schools to prepare nutritious meals for our learners in hygienic conditions. Through this project, Game donates mobile kitchens, complete with industrial gas burners, plumbing facilities, sinks, a pantry, stainless steel counters, cooking utensils and enough bright pink tumblers and bowls for every child.
I wish to acknowledge the immense contribution of Massdiscounters/Game for their further assistance in the publication, printing and delivery of the first National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) Recipe Book "Mnandi 4 Sure” that was delivered to all Quintile 1-3 primary schools and Quintile 1-2 secondary schools. With the merger of Massmart/Walmart Holdings in 2012, they pledged and subsequently delivered a donation of 100 mobile kitchens across provinces over and above the Game "Amalunchbox Box kitchens" as part of the 94+ Mandela Project.
Massdiscounters has now donated a total of 273 kitchens which is worth celebrating because a single kitchen can be costly. This is also an affirmation of the successes of public-private partnerships in addressing challenges in the education sector.
Government alone is not in a position to meet all the infrastructure backlogs and needs in schools. To provide adequate infrastructure can be costly. Due to a large number of NSNP schools in the public education system, support from the private sector is therefore needed to improve kitchen cooking and preparation facilities.
It is most fitting that we celebrate this achievement during the month of May, when we commemorate Workers’ Day. The new kitchens will assist the Volunteer Food Handlers to prepare the meals and work under pleasant, safe and hygienic conditions.
Programme Director, during my 2014/15 Budget Vote Policy Speech, I announced our intention to investigate the feasibility of implementing a National Schools Deworming Programme in primary schools, linked to the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP).
Since then, various teams were hard at work to ensure that we implement this new programme in 2016. I stand here proud after learning that all learners at Phuthikwena Combined School have been successfully dewormed during the rollout of the National Schools Deworming Programme.
I wish to extend my gratitude to your school, especially the School Principal, Educators, parents and the Department of Health for your invaluable contribution to the health and wellbeing of our learners. There seems to be universal understanding that the deworming of young children will promote learner wellbeing and retention, resulting in the achievement of educational and health outcomes.
As part of this campaign, we also encourage learners to always practice good hygiene habits of washing their hands before and after eating.
All of us should adopt healthy behavioural attitude in our homes and classrooms. It starts with a habit of handwashing with clean water and soap after every activity especially before handling food or after visiting the small room.
On behalf of the Department of Basic Education, we truly appreciate the successes of this Public Private Partnership and wish to thank Massdiscounters in supporting the improvement of facilities for the National School Nutrition Programme. The strength of this programme depends on our cooperation and collaboration towards quality education for all. Massdiscounters has played an incredible role in making this partnership work.
I wish to acknowledge the contribution and commitment of the Provincial Department, Districts and school communities, because without them the Department would not be able to meet its mandate. We also work very closely with other Government Departments as well as Local Government. I wish to thank the principal and teachers present here today, for their hard work and dedication in improving learner performance.
My gratitude goes out to the Volunteer Food Handlers who dedicate their time and carry the heavy responsibility of preparing the best meals for learners daily – rising so early in the mornings to prepare meals for the learners cannot be an easy task. So thank you very much for investing your time to these little minds.
Finally, let me talk to all learners about our exciting campaign to get South Africa reading. The reading campaign dubbed Read to Lead is a four-year campaign to create a national focus to improve the reading abilities of all South African children. It seeks to provide energy as well as direction and inspiration across all levels of the education system. These include schools, homes, churches, and malls to name just a few.
Our vision is to ensure that by 2019 all learners are able to demonstrate age appropriate levels of reading. The campaign is a national response to national, regional and international studies that have shown over a number of years that South African children are not able to read at expected levels, and are unable to execute tasks that demonstrate key skills associated with Literacy.
Getting young people to read and write for school, for leisure, and even in the world of work, is a critical aspect of the development of the social fabric of our country. We need to ensure that South Africa becomes a reading nation.
This is really the last one - to all learners, happy eating and reading, I wish you all the good luck with your studies.
I thank you.
