IELTS Reading Answers & Explanations: Tackling Hunger in Msekeni

The reading passage Tackling Hunger in Msekeni explores the reciprocal relationship between nutrition and education in Malawi through the real-life story of Msekeni Primary School. By providing free school meals, the school not only brings impoverished students back to the classroom but also drives a remarkable leap in academic performance and intellectual growth. This IELTS reading text challenges candidates with three question types: Matching Headings, Sentence Completion, and Two Choices. Below is a detailed breakdown accompanied by a complete translation and a summary of key academic vocabulary to help you better understand this reading passage.

Reading Passage

Tackling Hunger in Msekeni

[Paragraph A] There are not enough classrooms at the Msekeni primary school, so half the lessons take place in the shade of yellow-blossomed acacia trees. Given this shortage, it might seem odd that one of the school’s purpose-built classrooms has been emptied of pupils and turned into a storeroom for sacks of grain. But it makes sense. Food matters more than shelter.

[Paragraph B] Msekeni is in one of the poorer parts of Malawi, a landlocked southern African country of exceptional beauty and great poverty. No war lays waste Malawi, nor is the land unusually crowded or infertile, but Malawians still have trouble finding enough to eat. Half of the children under five are underfed to the point of stunting. Hunger blights most aspects of Malawian life, so the country is as good a place as any to investigate how nutrition affects development, and vice versa.

[Paragraph C] The headmaster at Msekeni, Bernard Kumanda, has strong views on the subject. He thinks food is a priceless teaching aid. Since 1999, his pupils have received free school lunches. Donors such as the World Food Programme (WFP) provide the food: those sacks of grain (mostly mixed maize and soyabean flour, enriched with vitamin A) in that converted classroom. Local volunteers do the cooking— turning the dry ingredients into a bland but nutritious slop, and spooning it out on to plastic plates. The children line up in large crowds, cheerfully singing a song called “We are getting porridge”.

[Paragraph D] When the school’s feeding programme was introduced, enrolment at Msekeni doubled. Some of the new pupils had switched from nearby schools that did not give out free porridge, but most were children whose families had previously kept them at home to work. These families were so poor that the long-term benefits of education seemed unattractive when set against the short-term gain of sending children out to gather firewood or help in the fields. One plate of porridge a day completely altered the calculation. A child fed at school will not howl so plaintively for food at home. Girls, who are more likely than boys to be kept out of school, are given extra snacks to take home.

[Paragraph E] When a school takes in a horde of extra students from the poorest homes, you would expect standards to drop. Anywhere in the world, poor kids tend to perform worse than their better-off classmates. When the influx of new pupils is not accompanied by any increase in the number of teachers, as was the case at Msekeni, you would expect standards to fall even further. But they have not. Pass rates at Msekeni improved dramatically, from 30% to 85%. Although this was an exceptional example, the nationwide results of school feeding programmes were still pretty good. On average, after a Malawian school started handing out free food it attracted 38% more girls and 24% more boys. The pass rate for boys stayed about the same, while for girls it improved by 9.5%.

[Paragraph F] Better nutrition makes for brighter children. Most immediately, well-fed children find it easier to concentrate. It is hard to focus the mind on long division when your stomach is screaming for food. Mr Kumanda says that it used to be easy to spot the kids who were really undernourished. “They were the ones who stared into space and didn’t respond when you asked them questions,” he says. More crucially, though, more and better food helps brains grow and develop. Like any other organ in the body, the brain needs nutrition and exercise. But if it is starved of the necessary calories, proteins and micronutrients, it is stunted, perhaps not as severely as a muscle would be, but stunted nonetheless. That is why feeding children at schools works so well. And the fact that the effect of feeding was more pronounced on girls than on boys gives a clue to who eats first in rural Malawian households. It isn’t the girls.

[Paragraph G] On a global scale, the good news is that people are eating better than ever before. Homo sapiens has grown 50% bigger since the industrial revolution. Three centuries ago, chronic malnutrition was more or less universal. Now, it is extremely rare in rich countries. In developing countries, where most people live, plates and rice bowls are also fuller than ever before. The proportion of children under five in the developing world who are malnourished to the point of stunting fell from 39% in 1990 to 30% in 2000, says the World Health Organisation (WHO). In other places, the battle against hunger is steadily being won. Better nutrition is making people cleverer and more energetic, which will help them grow more prosperous. And when they eventually join the ranks of the well-off, they can start fretting about growing too fat.

Questions

Questions 14–20: Matching Headings

Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A–G.

Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i–xi, in boxes 14–20 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i. Why better food helps students’ learning

ii. Becoming the headmaster of Msekeni

iii. Surprising use of school premises

iv. Global perspective

v. Why students were undernourished

vi. Surprising academic outcome

vii. An innovative program to help girls

viii. How food program is operated

ix. How food program affects school attendance

x. None of the usual reasons

xi. How to maintain academic standard

14. Paragraph A

15. Paragraph B

16. Paragraph C

17. Paragraph D

18. Paragraph E

19. Paragraph F

20. Paragraph G

Questions 21–24: Sentence Completion

Complete the sentences below using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS / OR A NUMBER from the passage.

Write your answers in boxes 21–24 on your answer sheet.

21. In Kumanda’s school _______________ are given to girls after the end of the school day.

22. Many children from poor families were sent to collect _______________ from the field.

23. Thanks to the free food program, _______________ of students passed the test.

24. The modern human is _______________ bigger than before after the industrial revolution.

Questions 25–26: Two Choices

Choose TWO letters, A–F.

Write your answers in boxes 25–26 on your answer sheet.

Which TWO of the following statements are true?

A. Some children are taught in the open air.

B. Bernard Kumanda became the headmaster in 1991.

C. No new staffs were recruited when attendance rose.

D. Girls are often treated equally with boys in Malawi.

E. Scientists have devised ways to detect the most underfed students in school.

F. WHO is worried about malnutrition among kids in developing countries.

Complete Vietnamese Translation of the Reading Passage

[Paragraph A] There are not enough classrooms at Msekeni Primary School, so half of the lessons take place in the shade of yellow-blossomed acacia trees. Given this shortage, it might seem odd that one of the school’s purpose-built classrooms has been emptied of pupils and turned into a storeroom for sacks of grain. But it makes sense: food matters more than shelter.

[Paragraph B] Msekeni is located in one of the poorer parts of Malawi—a landlocked southern African country of exceptional beauty yet profound poverty. No war lays waste to Malawi, nor is the land unusually crowded or infertile, but Malawians still struggle to find enough to eat. Half of the children under five are underfed to the point of stunting. Hunger blights most aspects of Malawian life, making the country an ideal place to investigate how nutrition affects development, and vice versa.

[Paragraph C] The headmaster at Msekeni, Bernard Kumanda, holds strong views on the subject, believing that food is a priceless teaching aid. Since 1999, his pupils have received free school lunches. Donors such as the World Food Programme (WFP) provide the food: those sacks of grain (mostly mixed maize and soybean flour, enriched with vitamin A) housed in that converted classroom. Local volunteers handle the cooking—turning the dry ingredients into a bland but nutritious porridge, which they spoon out onto plastic plates. The children line up in large crowds, cheerfully singing a song called “We are getting porridge”.

[Paragraph D] When the school’s feeding programme was introduced, enrolment at Msekeni doubled. While some new pupils switched from nearby schools that did not offer free porridge, most were children whose families had previously kept them at home to work. These families were so poor that the long-term benefits of education paled in comparison to the short-term gains of sending children out to gather firewood or help in the fields. A single plate of porridge a day completely changed that calculation. A child fed at school would no longer howl so plaintively for food at home. Girls, who are more likely than boys to be kept out of school, are given extra snacks to take home.

[Paragraph E] When a school takes in a massive influx of students from the poorest homes, academic standards would typically be expected to drop. Anywhere in the world, poor children tend to perform worse than their better-off peers. When this influx of new pupils is unaccompanied by any increase in teacher numbers, as was the case at Msekeni, you would expect standards to fall even further. Yet they did not. Pass rates at Msekeni improved dramatically, surging from 30% to 85%. Although this was an exceptional case, nationwide results for school feeding programmes remained highly encouraging. On average, after a Malawian school began distributing free food, it attracted 38% more girls and 24% more boys. The pass rate for boys remained relatively stable, while for girls it increased by 9.5%.

[Paragraph F] Better nutrition fosters brighter children. Most immediately, well-fed children find it easier to concentrate. It is hard to focus on long division when your stomach is screaming for food. Mr Kumanda notes that it used to be easy to spot the severely undernourished kids: “They were the ones who stared into space and didn’t respond when you asked them questions,” he says. More crucially, adequate and better food helps brains grow and develop. Like any other organ in the body, the brain requires nutrition and exercise. Starved of necessary calories, proteins, and micronutrients, the brain becomes stunted—perhaps not as severely as a muscle might be, but stunted nonetheless. That is why school feeding programmes work so effectively. Furthermore, the fact that the feeding effect was more pronounced in girls than boys provides a telling clue about who eats first in rural Malawian households: it certainly isn’t the girls.

[Paragraph G] On a global scale, the encouraging news is that people are eating better than ever before. Homo sapiens has grown 50% larger since the Industrial Revolution. Three centuries ago, chronic malnutrition was virtually universal. Today, it is extremely rare in wealthy nations. In developing countries, where the majority of the population lives, plates and rice bowls are also fuller than ever. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the proportion of children under five in the developing world who are malnourished to the point of stunting fell from 39% in 1990 to 30% in 2000. Elsewhere, the battle against hunger is steadily being won. Improved nutrition is making people sharper and more energetic, helping them achieve greater prosperity. And once they eventually join the ranks of the well-off, they can begin worrying about growing too fat.

Academic Vocabulary Summary

Purpose-built classroom (n): A classroom constructed specifically for a particular purpose.

Premises (n): The physical grounds and buildings of an institution or business.

Landlocked country (n): A country entirely enclosed by land with no direct access to the sea.

Stunting / Stunted (n / adj): Impaired growth and development in children / Stopped or slowed in growth or development.

Blight (v): To ruin, spoil, or severely afflict.

School enrolment (n): The total number of students registered or attending a school.

Influx of pupils (n): A sudden, large arrival or inflow of new students.

Dramatic improvement (phrase): A striking, significant, or sudden enhancement.

Micronutrients (n): Essential vitamins and minerals required by the body in small amounts.

Chronic malnutrition (n): Long-standing or recurring inadequate nutrition and dietary intake.

Answer Key and Explanations for Tackling Hunger in Msekeni

Questions 14–20: Matching Headings

14. Paragraph A -> Answer: iii (Surprising use of school premises)

Passage evidence (Paragraph A): “Given this shortage, it might seem odd that one of the school’s purpose-built classrooms has been emptied of pupils and turned into a storeroom for sacks of grain.”

Analysis: Paragraph A highlights that despite a classroom shortage, a