In Lesotho, learning’s biggest obstacle is hunger

The hunger of the seemingly healthy and well-groomed students at Moruthane Secondary School, about 80 kilometers south of Lesotho’s capital, Maseru, is at first not apparent, but as the morning progresses they become listless and their concentration lapses. Their teacher, Nigerian national Yemi Ajijedidun, 32, told IRIN, “They are not bad students; they are bright, but they are hungry.” The learners, aged 14 to 16, are enthusiastic about their education, and the packed rudimentary concrete-block classroom, which has a few desks but no electricity, is testament to their desire to learn, but educators acknowledge that the greatest obstacle to learning is hunger. Mountainous Lesotho, surrounded entirely by South Africa, is experiencing one of its worst droughts in three decades. Read the article in IRIN News.