In the 23 years “democracy” celebrated by South Africa, the education system of the nation is somehow still in doubt. The Eastern Cape Province is the usual causality to this ordeal, as the outcry towards dysfunctional, inadequate education system and service delivery continues year in year out. Given the failure of the apartheid regime in controlling government consumption expenditure it fell to the post-1994 government to confront this problem.

However the national Department of Education has been gradually resurfacing and unearthing ways to combat the negativity inherited from the past. To consolidate those efforts, it is important the objectives of the Department must be measured against the number of learners who access education. According to Makalive Daweti of Scholar Transport Directorate, the effectiveness of the scholar transport system can be rated at 7 out of 10. “The success of the system is also dependent on the national budget given by National Treasury to the Department of Education and to the directorate,” said Daweti.

According to the allocated budget for the 2016/2017 financial year for the school nutrition programme which was R 1 074 182 000. From that amount, there are 5238 learners targeted a year within the Eastern Cape.Vuyokazi Matwa, Deputy Director at the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) also insists that ‘the programme has helped the poverty-stricken learners of the Eastern Cape immensely’. “Learners attend school frequently, they get involved in the classrooms, pass rate has improved and information gathering has improved too,” said a proud Matwa.

Matwa also added that learners across the Province are provided with a daily meal that consists of a menu that changes every day. Furthermore, Matwa said that ‘every learner must be fed by 10H00 as it helps students to grasp on information and improve the pass rate of the Province’. “With this healthy daily menu, learners grow physically, their physical statures improve and also their health,” concluded Matwa.