The more than 200 students who live and study at a public school for the blind 24 miles from Ethiopia’s capital city are malnourished, the school’s director charges.
Tomas Tadesse, the director of the school in Sebeta, told Tujube Kussa of VOA’s Horn of Africa language service that students are malnourished because the government failed to provide the children a balanced diet. School officials say that every year Oromiya Region officials allocate a budget for the school but the school’s director said that last year the Oromiya Education Bureau reduced their budget.
Dereje Asfaw of the Oromiya Education Bureau says the school was given sufficient funds in 2009 and accused school administrators of misappropriating funds from the food budget. Dereje said they are investigating what happened to those funds and Tomas denied the charges. The program is in Afan Oromo and Amharic.