A school nutrition programme in Thembisa is helping children concentrate, participate and learn, showing how targeted social investment can strengthen education and long-term opportunity for learners.
As South Africa marks Food Security Month, The Love Trust’s Nokuphila School is demonstrating how nutrition can become part of a wider education strategy rather than simply an additional welfare intervention.
Learners at the school receive breakfast, lunch and a snack during the school day, helping ensure that hunger does not prevent children from participating fully in lessons.
For some learners, the first meal they receive at school may also be their first meal of the day.
For a Grade 8 learner identified as Lerato to protect her privacy, access to regular meals has a direct effect on her ability to learn.
“Breakfast and lunch at school means a lot to me. Some days I come to school without eating at home, so the meal I get at school is my first. It gives me strength to continue the day,” she said.
The difference is noticeable inside the classroom.
“When I have eaten, I can concentrate, and I can answer questions in class. When I am hungry, I feel tired, sleepy and unable to focus,” Lerato said.
Her experience highlights an important social-investment principle: education outcomes are influenced by far more than what happens during a lesson.
Investment in teachers, classrooms, technology and learning materials can have limited impact if learners arrive at school without the physical energy required to concentrate and participate.
At Nokuphila, nutrition is therefore treated as part of the infrastructure that enables learning.
Julia Chiroodza, the school’s Head of Department for the pre-preparatory phase and chairperson of the school-based support team, said food and education cannot be separated.
“A hungry learner cannot be expected to concentrate, participate confidently or make the most of learning opportunities. Education and nutrition are therefore inseparable,” she said.
Teachers can also observe the consequences of hunger through lower energy levels, reduced participation and changes in behaviour.
Some learners may become withdrawn or tired, making it more difficult to engage with classmates, teachers and new information.
The importance of school-based nutrition became particularly visible after the COVID-19 lockdown period.
Chiroodza recalled that some learners returned to school having lost weight, illustrating the additional role schools can play in supporting children beyond formal teaching.
“By providing nutritious meals, we help ensure that learners are physically and mentally ready to learn, grow and develop,” she said.
“Beyond supporting academic performance, the nutrition programme contributes to the overall well-being of the child.”
The intervention also creates value for families.
For households facing rising food, transport and living costs, knowing that children receive meals at school can reduce daily pressure on household budgets.
That makes the nutrition programme an example of how social investment can create several forms of impact from a single intervention.
Children receive greater nutritional support.
Teachers work with learners who are better positioned to participate.
Families receive some relief from food costs.
And investment in education has a stronger chance of translating into meaningful learning outcomes.
This shared-value approach is increasingly relevant for businesses and organisations investing in education through corporate social investment.
Education programmes often focus on infrastructure, technology, bursaries and skills development, but nutrition can determine whether children are able to benefit fully from those investments.
Supporting school feeding can therefore form part of a broader strategy aimed at improving educational participation, wellbeing and future economic opportunity.
The Love Trust’s model extends beyond food.
Founded in 2009, the organisation provides education at Nokuphila School from Grades 000 to Grade 8 and also trains disadvantaged women as accredited early childhood development teachers.
Its programmes include Work Integrated Learning opportunities for ECD, Foundation and Intermediate Phase educators, connecting child development with teacher training and employment pathways.
That combination of education, nutrition and skills development reflects a more holistic approach to community development.
Rather than addressing individual challenges in isolation, the organisation attempts to strengthen the environment around the child.
Food Security Month provides an opportunity to examine that connection more closely.
For young children, food security is not simply about whether food exists somewhere within a household.
It is also about consistent access to nutritious food at the times when children need it to grow, concentrate and develop.
World Food Day, observed on 16 October, reinforces the importance of building food systems that support people and communities over the longer term.
For learners such as Lerato, however, the impact is much more immediate.
“I want to pass and go to university and later get a job so I can help my family. If I have a good education, I can build a better life,” she said.
That ambition connects the school meal served today with possibilities that may only become visible years from now.
Good nutrition cannot guarantee academic success, university access or employment.
But it can remove one barrier standing between a learner and those opportunities.
For corporate partners, foundations and donors looking for measurable social impact, that is what makes nutrition programmes significant.
A meal is an immediate intervention, but its value can extend into attendance, participation, confidence, educational progression and ultimately economic opportunity.
At Nokuphila School, the principle is simple.
Children cannot be expected to make the most of education while hungry.
By ensuring learners receive the nourishment they need during the school day, The Love Trust is helping create the conditions in which education investment can do what it is intended to do: give children a stronger opportunity to learn, develop and build better futures.
