(English) Food for thought: beating hunger brings better learning

Mae’n ddrwg gen i, mae’r cofnod hwn dim ond ar gael mewn English.

A Money for Madagascar project has helped children pass their primary school exams in record numbers.

Our Education for Life programme sets out to ensure that children – and parents – are able to access and benefit from high-quality education in Madagascar, and have the opportunity to fulfil their potential, benefiting themselves and their communities.

Four in ten Malagasy children do not complete even primary school, and we work to ensure parents can afford school fees, children have the equipment they need, and teachers and parents receive equipment and training to help children make the most of their school years.

But even these initiatives, all of which certainly benefit young people and their communities, have limited impact without dealing with a central challenge: hunger.

Included in the four in ten children who do not finish primary school, are one in ten Malagasy children who do not even reach their tenth birthday. Fifty per cent of Malagasy children suffer stunting due to malnutrition, and most eat fewer than three melas a day.

This causes poor health, and even when children are healthy enough to attend, hunger stops them concentrating and achieving what they can at school.

One way we work to overcome this challenge – and make sure children get the nutrition they need and deserve – is through our school cafeteria project, which is funded by Mary’s Meals.

This project operates at all the schools our Education for Life programme works with, and in 31 schools in the Arivonimamo II Educational Implementation Zone (ZAP), in Madagascar’s Itasy region, it is implemented by our partner the Miarintsoa Association (AMI).

In all 31 schools, as well as at six residential centres in Malagasy capital Antananarivo, the cafeterias make sure children are fed a warm nutritious lunch five days a week.

On Monday, a representative from Mary’s Meals, Violette Ficheur O’Zoux, visited the Antaboaka Primary School to see the project in action.

She was joined at the school, which 192 pupils aged four to ten years attend each day, by local figures including the head of the Arivonimamo education authority, the head of the Arivonimamo II ZAP, the deputy mayor of the Arivonimamo II Commune, the head of the Antaboka Community (Fokontany), members of MfM and AMI and the school’s principal, its six teachers, as well as parents and pupils.

The school principal expressed their sincere thanks to Mary’s Meals for their support. They said: ‘Before, parents had to rush home from their daily work in the fields to prepare their children’s lunches. It was a source of constant fatigue and worry. Today, thanks to the school canteen, they can work with peace of mind, especially during lean seasons when families often only have access to cassava or sweet potatoes, without being able to buy rice.’

The chairwoman of the canteen committee added: ‘This project is vital to us. Nutrition is the foundation of our children’s health and well-being. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for choosing us as beneficiaries and hope that this project will continue for a long time to come.’

The head of the Arivonimamo II ZAP noted: ‘The Arivonimamo II ZAP was the first in the entire Arivonimamo CISCO in terms of passing the official Certificate of Primary Studies (CEPE) exam, with 13 out of 31 schools achieving a 100 per pass rate. This is thanks to this project, which is a source of motivation and diligence for students in completing their studies.’