Kenyan President William Ruto said on Tuesday that his administration will expand the school feeding program from 1.6 million to 4 million students.
Ruto, who launched the Nairobi County school feeding programme in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, stated that the school food programme will cost 35.67 million US dollars to operate.
“We must eliminate the shame of hunger in our country. We will be deliberate and focused in ensuring successful implementation of the school feeding program,” he said.
Kenya formally took over the school feeding programme from the World Food Programme (WFP) in October 2018, and has since served lunch to 1.6 million schoolchildren in the country’s arid and semi-arid regions.
According to the administration, school closures owing to a lack of food and water have interrupted learning in drought-affected counties, resulting to a surge in early marriages and pregnancies among females, child labour, and civilian forced migration.
Ezekiel Machogu, cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Education, stated that his ministry will collaborate closely with other stakeholders to ensure the program’s success.
