Education Focus Magazine MarchApril Edition (2) compressed - Flipbook - Page 41
NATIONAL NEWS
PRESIDENT WILLIAM RUTO, NAIROBI WOMAN REP. ESTHER PASARIS AND NAIROBI GOVERNOR JOHNSON SAKAJA, ENJOY A MEAL WITH PUPILS FROM
Nairobi school.
This was aimed at making it more sustainable and
The government is transitioning to a Home -
nationally owned Home-Grown School Meals
Grown School Meals Programme leveraging an
Programme by locally sourcing nutritious and
aggregator model, currently piloted in two
culturally acceptable foods for supply to schools.
counties, prioritising food sourced by local
The numbers for school enrollment, retention,
smallholder farmers.
completion, learning outcomes, nutrition and
general wellbeing have jumped from 240,000 to 2.6
As climate change continues to adversely affect
million leaners over the years.
Kenya and the well-being of communities, the
Ruto administration is taking the lead on
The programme currently covers learners in all the 11
promoting transformative change of keeping and
arid counties, selected schools in the 15 semi -arid
bringing more children into schools through
counties, urban informal settlements, Special Needs
school meals, boosting economic opportunities
Schools and the camp-based Refugee schools.
and incomes for communities through home-
The School Meals Programmes are an indispensable
grown school feeding.
safety net for nourishing school-going children,
Additionally, tackling the climate crisis through the
creating jobs, fostering green economic growth, and
adoption of clean cooking in schools, shifting away
long-term development of the local communities.
from carbon-heavy imports, and prioritising the
The government is committed and charting the path
uptake of drought-tolerant crops and vegetables
towards universal coverage by scaling up provision
for home-grown production of school meals.
of healthy, nutritious and climate-friendly meals
from the current reach of 2.6 million to 10 million
children by 2030.
Toward this commitment, an operational plan for the
scale-up has been developed with technical
assistance from the Rockefeller Foundation to
effectively implement its scale-up plan.
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president william ruto serves pupils with a meal
