Concerns are mounting about the welfare of thousands of pupils dependent on school meals after widespread flooding forced the closure of more than 120 schools in the Western Cape this week.
The national school nutrition programme provides daily nutritious breakfasts and lunches to more than 500,000 pupils in the province, many of whom rely on the meals as their main source of food.
On Thursday, the Western Cape government provided an update on the co-ordinated disaster response after days of heavy rain, flooding and damaging wind in several districts.
Provincial education deputy director-general Alan Meyer said 128 schools in municipalities affected by flooding had been closed, but the department’s priority was to reopen schools as soon as it was safe to do so.
“We must understand that learners in those areas have not been fed for two days as well, and so it becomes a very important part for us to be able to feed learners tomorrow [Friday] at school. Then it’s the weekend again,” Meyer said.
“So if we do not feed tomorrow, it will mean learners will go for five days with very minimal feeding in their communities.”
Arrangements were made for pupils to attend nearby schools where meals could still be provided, while efforts were also under way to distribute food parcels in areas where schools remained inaccessible.
We must understand that learners in those areas have not been fed for two days as well, and so it becomes a very important part for us to be able to feed learners tomorrow [Friday] at school.
— Provincial education deputy director-general Alan Meyer
“In areas where there is no school access, attempts will be made to deliver little parcels for learners so that they at least have something to prepare over the weekend,” he said.
Western Cape education MEC David Maynier announced later on Thursday that 29 schools in the Eden and Central Karoo education districts would remain closed on Friday, while all other schools in the districts would reopen.
“Our default position is always to keep schools open and only close in exceptional circumstances,” Maynier said.
“But given the severity of the warnings and the advice from the provincial disaster management centre, we closed schools in George, Knysna, Oudtshoorn and surrounding areas for two days.”
Schools would implement catch-up plans to ensure teaching and learning returned to normal, and that work missed during the closures would be recovered.
“Our system is well prepared for these events, and we will continue to monitor the weather conditions ahead,” he said.
Colin Deiner, chief director for disaster management and fire and rescue services in the Western Cape, said authorities had acted on severe weather forecasts issued on Wednesday.
The forecasts predicted level eight weather warnings for the Garden Route, level six warnings for the Central Karoo, and level two warnings for parts of the Overberg and areas extending into the Northern Cape.
“We knew there would be very high winds, a lot of rain, high wave activity and snowfall,” Deiner said.
Using the province’s disaster management systems, officials mapped flood risks against schools, scholar transport pickup points and bus routes.
“So it was not just the schools at risk, but also the entire feeder system into those schools that we looked at,” he said.
“That informed the decision by the department of education to initially close 121 schools, with additional closures following as the risk increased.”
Deiner said the safety of pupils remained the overriding concern.
“Though school closures are always a last resort, life safety always comes first.
“The decision was made to close schools on Wednesday and Thursday and then continuously assess conditions to determine when it would be safe to reopen.”
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