State to support school-feeding plan in fight against f****e – CS
The proposed school-feeding programmes will soon be a reality, with Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu yesterday saying the government will support it in the face of a persistent drought that has ravaged most parts of the country.
Machogu said the deliberate policy is geared at ensuring that school-going children in drought-stricken counties continue learning without interruption.
Speaking after flagging off consignments of food supply to 10 counties, Machogu said the rations are expected to last a month as the government looks for a long-term solution.
“We are sending food to 10 counties which have been adversely affected by drought. We want to make sure that, as a government, our school-going children learn without the hitches associated with food scarcity. We have dispatched 4,313 tonnes of rice, 1150 tonnes of beans, 147 tonnes of vegetable oil and 57 tonnes of salt,” he said.
Cash transfer bid
Machogu also hinted that they will soon be launching a cash-transfer programme to compliment the food donations.
The food will be distributed in eight counties — including Tana River, Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Turkana, Samburu, Isiolo and Marsabit.
The CS reiterated that the government will ensure no learner fails to go to school due to lack of food.
“We have sought inter-ministerial and inter-governmental interventions to ensure that food reaches those across the country who cannot access it .We acknowledge and appreciate the support provided by development partners and donors towards the provision of meals to school children so far. We’ll continue to seek further intervention as we work towards ensuring that the current food crisis is fully addressed,” he said.
The ongoing drought has hit schools very hard, with hundreds of thousands of learners staying away from classrooms due to hunger. The drought has largely been caused by delayed rainfall.
Over 3.5m affected
According to statistics from the United Nations (UN), more than 3.6 million children are at risk of dropping out of school due to drought in the Horn of Africa region.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) estimates that 3.6 million children in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia are in danger of leaving school as a result of the cumulative pressure on households caused by unrelenting catastrophes such as drought, high cost of living and pandemics like Covid-19.
Although no official figures are available, a spot check by the ‘People Daily’, coupled by interviews with education officials, indicate that learning has suffered, especially among nomadic communities.
Dire situation
The Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association chairperson Johnson Nzioka said the situation in schools is dire and remedial action by the government.
Nzioka said schools in arid and semi-arid counties are the worst hit, with learners opting to drop out of school to seek ways of boosting their families’ incomes.
“Children are dropping out due to lack of food, yet the government is keen to implement a 100 per cent school transition. We are appealing to the government to act fast and ensure food is available in these schools,” he said.
