Durban — The School Governing Body Association has called on the government to “pull up its socks“, find out who is behind the food poisoning incidents in schools, and stop shifting responsibility to schools with limited resources.
Matakanye Matakanya, the SGB Association's national chairperson, spoke after the KZN Department of Education issued a circular with guidelines aimed at regulating vendors selling food to pupils in schools and nearby premises. This was a response to recent food poisoning and contamination incidents in some KZN and Gauteng schools.
The circular stipulates that school principals and SGBs must:
- Register a manageable number of vendors and avail space for them to do business within the school premises;
- Vet all vendors to avoid letting individuals who may be in the sex offender registers into school;
- Discuss with the vendors on healthy snacks they may sell to learners and measures on how to ensure that they procure such from reputable wholesalers observing all relevant health prescripts;
- Discuss issues of cleanliness about their places of operations to prevent food contamination and engage local municipality health offices;
- Agree on time intervals for spot checks by the principal or his delegates and the SGB members; and
- Engage local shop owners on the importance of selling healthy stuff to learners en route to and from school.
Matakanya said: “We can’t keep on burying our children, they are the future of this country. These food poisoning incidents are mushrooming in all provinces and they seem like coordinated actions aimed at destroying the country’s future generation. As parents, we do not have the resources to nip this problem in the bud and bring justice, but the government can.”
He urged local governments to enforce bylaws for people who sell food items in communities.
He said parents had to advise children to buy where they can get receipts so that it would be easy to follow up should there be a problem.
He said the circular would not help lessen food contamination or poisoning incidents in schools even if it was enforced, because children buy food items they like on their way to schools or in communities, where schools have no control. Teachers and SGBs can only control what happens within the school premises, he added.
However, Vee Gani, the chairperson of the KZN Parents Association had a different view saying the circular was a step in the right direction.
“It will help minimise the incidents because it requires a certain degree of responsibility. The SGBs and school principals are to ensure children are safe, food sold to them is healthy, not expired stuff, and it must be legitimate - not some fakes meant to exploit our kids,” said Gani.
He urged the government to regulate spaza shops and ensure that they were not selling harmful foods to children and that parents must also teach their children to make the right food choices.
“We don’t want any other child to lose their life. As a community and schools we have to make sure that the food sold to our children is safe,” he said.
Sakhile Mngadi, the DA KZN Spokesperson on Education said his party welcomed the initial steps by KZN Education MEC, Sipho Hlomuka, to restrict children from purchasing food from unregulated vendors.
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