South Africa has a national school meal programme targeted to primary and secondary schoolchildren from vulnerable schools. There is guidance on the composition of the meals to be served to the pupils, as well as recommendations for tuck shops and caregivers to improve the nutrition quality of school food, however there are no compulsory nutrition standards.
Nutrition education is integrated into a subject curriculum and supported by the National School Nutrition Programme and the Integrated School Health Programme.
School Food
South Africa has a national school meal programme (known as the "National School Nutrition Programme") targeted at primary and secondary schoolchildren from eligible public schools in the country (defined by economic indicators). The programme reaches all provinces and is managed by the Department of
Basic Education, with targeted support from the Department of Health, and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. Breakfast is provided by private entities to supplement the programme in some schools.
The programme provides hot meals at mid morning, five days a week following a one-week cycle menu for each province, developed annually by nutritionists and based on the South African Food-Based Dietary Guidelines. Schools are also encouraged to establish food gardens from which they can obtain fresh produce (vegetables/fruit) to supplement the menu. The meals should cover 30% of the recommended energy and micronutrient daily intakes for children.
Each district adapts this menu to local cultural preferences to make it acceptable among schoolchildren, but overall, each meal should comprise:
- either a vegetable-source of protein (e.g., soya products, dried beans, lentils, nuts and dried peas) or an animal source food (e.g. meat, milk, eggs and fish (depending on affordability);
- a cereal staple (e.g. maize meal, "samp", "mealie", rice, bread, potatoes); and
- at least one green and one red, yellow or orange vegetable per meal.
Fats, oils and iodized salt and seasonings must be used in moderation, and soya should not be served more than twice a week. The nutritionists from the Department of Health give the final approval for the adapted district menus.
School cooks, recruited from the community (parents or other relatives), are responsible for the adequate planning and preparation of meals. They receive continuous training from the Department of Basic Education on aspects such as food safety, food
preparation and hygiene practices. There is also a recipe book for
cooks, parents and community members that are involved in the preparation and serving of meals, which includes tips on nutrition as well as recommendations to make the recipes more palatable, safe and nutritious.
In each school, there is a designated nutrition educator responsible for monitoring the programme who is a member of the school’s nutrition committee and receives training alongside the food handlers. The nutrition educator’s role is to help the food handlers interpret and adhere to the recipes, and to check on appropriate clothing, adherence to the implementation guidelines, and cleaning conditions of the food preparation areas. To recognize good performance within the programme, the Department of Basic Education presents an award to the schools with best practices.
Various efforts have been carried out to evaluate the implementation of the programme and its impact on educational and health outcomes of students. Common challenges include lack of training of food handlers, inadequate kitchen and storage facilities, and in some cases, inadequate composition of the meals (mostly regarding the presence of vegetables).
- Provincial menus (2021)
- National School Nutrition Programme official website
- Recipe book for the National School Nutrition Programme
- Global Child Nutrition Foundation (GCNF): School meal programme profile of South Africa (2020)
Tuck shops and food vendors operating in and outside school gates are also common in South Africa. The Department of Basic Education developed guidelines for School Management Teams, School Governing Bodies, educators, tuck shop operators and learners, parents and the wider community, to promote the availability of nutritious foods from school tuck shops within school premises. The guidelines outline responsibilities for each stakeholder group and provides concrete suggestions for "good" and "bad" practices for tuck shops, as well as examples of high nutrition (e.g. fresh fruits and vegetables, roasted unsalted peanuts, grilled fish, and a variety of brown bread sandwiches) and low nutrition value foods (e.g. fried potatoes, chips, processed snacks, powdered drinks). Key recommendations include:
- Providing unsweetened or 100% pure fruit juices;
- Providing milk drinks that are low in fat content and unsweetened;
- Making available nutritious snacks;
- Selling very limited quantities of processed snacks;
- Providing fruit and vegetables; and
- Selling soup during winter.
The guidelines however are not compulsory and compliance is weak, posing a continuous challenge to maintaining a healthy school food environment. The Department of Basic Education plans to reinforce and strengthen regulations for school food vendors in conjunction with the Ministry of Health.
The Department of Basic Education has also developed recommendations for encouraging caregivers to pack nutritious lunchboxes for their children, where this is a possibility. The guidance provides the principles of a healthy diet and concrete ideas for planning more nutritious snacks and packed lunches.
School-Based Food and Nutrition Education
Nutrition education is integrated across the school system in South Africa, mainly as part of the national curriculum, as a core component of the National School Nutrition Programme and as part of the Integrated School Health Programme.
The Department of Basic Education has developed a Nutrition Education Strategy that focuses on communication designed to improve nutrition literacy, including improving knowledge, and developing life skills that are conducive to individual and community health.
| Main targets | Primary and secondary schoolchildren, as well as caregivers and the wider community |
| Main educators | Teachers |
| Integration within the curriculum | Mainly as part of the subject "Life Orientation". Some nutrition contents are also integrated in:
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| Learning objectives |
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Development
The Department of Basic Education is responsible for the development of the Life Orientation subject curriculum, in which nutrition education is integrated, as well as for the other subjects where nutrition contents or lessons are present. The Department of Health supports nutrition education through the Integrated Nutrition Programme.
Implementation
Teachers are the main implementers of nutrition education activities in the school. The main topics addressed are supposed to be directly related with the national food-based dietary guidelines, and usually cover:
- healthy eating principles
- nutrient content of foods
- food processing
- food safety
Schools are encouraged to use school gardens as learning platforms, and some extracurricular activities such as the National Nutrition Week (an initiative to raise awareness on healthy eating and exercise as a way of healthy living) are also common in some schools.
Monitoring and Evaluation
There is no specific monitoring and evaluation plan for nutrition education in South Africa. A few small-scale studies have been carried out by academia to understand how widespread are nutrition contents taught at school level, perceptions of teachers regarding their role and capacity to teach nutrition education and for piloting specific learning resources to improve the quality of nutrition education. Main challenges highlighted include limited contextualized learning and teaching resources, lack of continuous capacity development of teachers, limited time in the curriculum and the need for a skills-based model to nutrition education instead of a knowledge-based one.
Relevant Links
Publications
Report on the Implementation Evaluation of South Africa's National School Nutrition Programme
This report presents the results of an evaluation of the National School Nutrition Programme conducted in 2014. The evaluation aimed at assessing whether the programme was being implemented in a way that is likely to result in significant health and educational benefits for learners.
The key evaluation questions were: 1. Is the programme being implemented as planned? 2. Are procedures effective for timely delivery? 3. Are learners receiving quality meals and services? 4. What are the variations in implementation? 5. Is the programme reaching intended beneficiaries? 6. Is there evidence that programme enhances learning behaviour (likely impact of the programme)? 7. Should it be upscaled? How can it be improved? 8. Are there other spinoffs of the programme?