AMURU- Parents in Amuru district have been accused of being reluctant to feed their school-going children by the district leaders who now want the government to make this program compulsory.
The District Education Officer, Mrs Joyce Lanyaro says that ever since this feeding program began, parents had a negative perception about it.
She complained that these parents send the pupils to school without providing food to the schools or packing food for their children.
“In our outreaches, parents tell us that they do not have enough food to be supplied to schools or be packed for school going children “Says Mrs. Joyce.
In 2015, Government set guidelines that parents should be providing food to schools where their children study from or pack food for children.
The district passed a policy that recommended parents to pay UGX 50,000 for failing to provide food for their children and those who keep them at home during school hours.
The District Secretary for Education, Apollo Okello said that children are dropping out of school due to lack of food and some pupils tend to miss afternoon classes.
Amuru district has 51 government-aided primary schools but only 11 have made attempts to provide the pupils with food.
Mr. Michael Lakony the District Chairperson said that you can’t expect a family with six children to raise food for each of them yet at home, they only eat once a day.
He said that parents should understand that a child cannot concentrate in class on an empty stomach and cannot study well like others who have eaten that is why most of government aided-primary schools perform poorly.
