The size and quality of school meals deteriorated during the coronavirus pandemic and they continue to fall short of the government’s nutritional targets, research from the University of Johannesburg shows.

The national schools nutrition programme (NSNP) provides meals daily to 9.6-million children, and ground to a complete halt when schools were closed in March 2020, shortly after SA identified its first cases of Covid-19 cases. The provision of school meals was resumed after a legal challenge compelled the education department to continue providing meals even when schools were closed, but the delivery of food remained disrupted for many children...

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