‘Three sheep’ village battles to feed students
Print Edition
THE remote hilly township of Sanzhiyang got its name “three sheep” from a sad 16th century story.
Tucked away amongst mountains in southwest China, Sanzhiyang was so barren that local villagers could only offer three sheep as the township’s tithe to regional administrators. The locals were hunters, not farmers and there was very little arable land.
Poverty ground on in Sanzhiyang for centuries. Until 2012, Sanzhiyang’s children grew up on a diet of steamed rice and soybean, one of the few things that would grow there.
When Meng Lianghong, who is now 12, went to the local boarding school five years ago, she used to take a bag of soybeans back to school each Sunday, which sustained her for the week.
“For each meal, I cooked two handfuls of rice. Sometimes, that was all I ate for two weeks,” she said.
That same monotonous recipe was order of the day — almost every day — for the other 500 students at Sanzhiyang Elementary School. Headmaster Meng Wenwu said almost no one in the school enjoyed sports and some kids would faint during physical exercise.
Despite the economic growth of the past two decades and massive strides in eliminating poverty, China still has a large poor population, about 70 million souls who live on less than US$2 a day.
Malnutrition is common in the remote countryside. Hidden hunger — lack of micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals — has resulted in a marked difference in height and weight between urban and rural children.
The China Development Research Foundation found the average height and weight of 13-year-olds in Sanzhiyang equal to urban 10-year-olds.
In 2011, a nutrition improvement plan for elementary and middle school students in rural areas began, offering 4 yuan (US$0.60) per day for each student. Cash subsidies were given to schools, which could decide whether to build canteens or to outsource breakfast and lunch from caterers. For most schools in remote parts, canteens were the only option.
Today, Sanzhiyang Elementary School’s well-equipped canteen is serving pork, carrot slices, and cabbages for lunch. “It’s not a feast, but much better than soybean and rice,” said Lan Meng, who heads the school’s general office.
China is a newcomer to subsidized school meals. The National School Lunch Program began in the United States as early as 1946, and so there is still a lot to be done if China is to catch up and make the program effective and sustainable.
The government has spent 67 billion yuan in the past five years with 33.6 million rural students benefitting. In November, Premier Li Keqiang agreed to expand the program to cover all rural students in the poorest areas by 2017.
Lan has lobbied the government to increase the subsidy to offset inflation.
“Some parents wonder why there is so little meat in the lunches,” he said. “But pork prices have risen for two years, and 4 yuan does not go very far.”
Lei Wencai, principal of Hongban Primary School in Guizhou Province says what he paid for 17 kilograms of pork last year now only buys 12kg — 50 grams per student per day.
Professor Weng Zeren with Guizhou University suggests the subsidy linked to inflation. Others who think school canteens are too expensive to build and maintain want more money put into the program.
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