The Vicious Cycle of Poverty

We went to the primary school to congratulate the two new Sakina Scholars for Sustain Foundation! The first student, Gerald, was very happy. The second, Suzana, was not at school. This was the second time she hadn't been to school when we had visited, so I asked where she was. The headmistress informed me that she had been sent home yesterday because she didn't pay the 2000 TSH (less than 2 USD) for lunch during her national examination (which is in September). Apparently they continue sending children home until they pay for lunch. The ironic thing is that if the children don't go to school, how are they expected to pass or even take the exam (in which case they wouldn't even need lunch)? Why is education taking a back seat to lunch during two days in September? Shouldn't the student be able to decide whether they want lunch or not? Since Suzana can't even make it to extra classes which cost 300 TSH, no wonder she didn't have 2000 TSH. I asked what happened if a student couldn't pay it and the headmistress said that eventually they would stop sending the student home. I was not very happy with that answer. I gave 2000 to the headmistress and asked nicely for Suzana to return to school.

Teh children that can't pay for lunch are the ones that should go to school so that they can get an education to eventually make money to support themselves. Instead, they are being sent home until they can make enough money to satisfy the school and the poorest will end up missing a lot of school and thus stay in poverty. That is a vicious cycle.

I admire Suzana even more because she is one of the top students in her class.