Milk has been a cornerstone of school nutrition programs for well over a century in some countries. It plays a vital role in providing essential nutrients to students.
The Catholic Church in Masaka diocese has initiated a school feeding program that adds milk to the students' menu. The move is part of the efforts initiatives
to improve the learner's health through nutrition.
This initiative will be in 15 selected schools. It is to be implemented through the Masaka Diocesan Development Organization-MADDO Dairies-
a farming investment cooperation of the diocese.
Monsignor
Doctor Dominic Ssengooba, the Diocesan Vicar General on Friday said they are
looking forward to improving children’s health, by boosting their nutrition
while at school. He hopes with good health, the learners will perform better.
Ssengooba said the diocese has since 1993 been
distributing improved breeds of dairy cows to families as a way of boosting household
incomes and the beneficiaries have developed the capacity to
supply the schools with the milk.
Revered Father Peter Ssenkaayi, the Executive Director of
MADDO Dairies revealed that they have entered into partnerships with the schools' administrators
to implement the program which will have each learner consume
a liter of milk or yogurt per week. Each learner is expected to pay 12,000 shillings per term towards the program.
Father Ssenkanyi indicates that the parents in the selected schools
are embracing the program which he says will now expand to at least 30 schools by the next term.
//Cue
in: “kubanga tukizudde….
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out: ….okugenda mu maaso.”//
Agnes Audex Baguma, Director of Technical Services at the Dairy
Development Authority-DDAnoted
that the campaign will increase the country’s milk consumption rates, which
will have a positive bearing on the health of the Ugandans.
She however challenged MADDO Dairies to strictly enforce the
quality of milk in their supply value chain, to ensure that children get the
right nutrients all through.
John Paul Kagombe, the Director of Mugwanya Complex Primary
School in Masaka City, one of the schools where the program has started
observes that they have convinced the parents of the associated benefits and that he was optimistic that it will be widely embraced.
In 2022, the Ministry of Education and Sports made attempts
to enforce the compulsory milk feed program in schools, but it failed to take off due
to widespread criticism by different sections of people, who expressed
reservations on the methodology of implementation, the supply chain, and the cost
implications.
The program emanates from the 2012 school feeding and
nutrition guidelines which the Ministry designed to improve child health,
nutrition, and educational performance.
Milk has been a cornerstone of school nutrition programs for well over a
century in some countries. It plays a vital role in providing essential nutrients to
students