The six directors of primary schools interviewed by this newspaper, in the municipality of Belas, in Luanda, were unanimous in saying that they are not authorized to comment on the matter, under penalty of being sanctioned by their hierarchical superiors.
Even so, when they made sure that their statements would be treated anonymously, they spoke about the pressure that those in charge exert on the management of their schools, to the point of considering that it was the managers who were diverting the meals.
“Not everyone knows about the procedures that end with school meals. Sometimes, it is even necessary to explain to those in charge that the schools are waiting for the men from the municipal administration to comment, whether or not there is something for this or that month”, said a director, adding that managers should not even call to ask. The times this director received it, they called him, when he was already at home, around 5 pm, which forced him to call his employees, in order to prevent the children from leaving school.
“But most of them had already left the school. When we informed about this, we were instructed not to distribute them, because the photographs had to be filled with more students. We had to wait for the next day, but the banana that came in the kit didn’t hold up, it almost completely rotted”, he recalled sadly, having revealed that he still insistently asked for this fruit to be distributed immediately to the students who were present.
In turn, the only director who agreed to share her story said that she was tired of being singled out and referred to by those in charge, on the street, as the owner of the school lunch. “I couldn’t even buy a fruit on the street. If those in charge saw it, they would draw two conclusions, either I was the one feeding the saleswoman’s business, or I was the one who had them in the car and bought others to simulate.
It’s very humiliating”, complained the director, who, to eliminate suspicions, had to include the committee of parents and guardians in the distribution of the lunch. Asked about the times each year that her school received the aforementioned snack, the director stated that, in years with some luck, she received it two or three times and that it never went beyond that.
Their counterparts said they had never been as lucky as their colleague, as in their schools it is normal to be remembered only at the end of each academic year. “And it has been years since we were found or found”, they reported, adding that, when this happens, “those in charge come to demand satisfaction from the school management”.
Students accuse teachers of consuming their snack . “This worries us more when the beneficiary himself is complaining that he was given little because the teacher also had to eat.
This is shameful and we have to stop it, because the lunch is for the children”, said the director, adding that, because of this, at the school he runs, he requires class delegates to participate in the counting and distribution. . Despite attending between 1st and 4th grades, the children reported, in detail, how the ‘assault’ on the lunch takes place. “When they bring the lunch to the classroom, it comes for everyone, but the teachers take the food away from those who didn’t come and from those who made noise it remains for themselves.
And it’s not just the teachers who eat, the guards, the cleaning aunts and some directors too”, said the children, revealing that, sometimes, they are even asked to take the rest of the box to the cars of those responsible. . Another dynamic contested by the children has to do with the fact that their siblings, friends or acquaintances who attend the 5th and 6th classes do not have the right to a snack, allegedly because they are older. “But the older people who work at the school are eating our lunch”, recalled the students, questioning, ironically, whether they were underage.