Food for Education, the biggest school feeding program in the country is set to build a mega kitchen in Limuru Sub-County to enable public primary school children to access nutritious food for education

In a meeting led by Limuri Member of the National Assembly Eng. John Kiragu, the Food for Education Kitchen was unanimously agreed by all stakeholders which included Head teachers, BOM Chairpersons, and Parents Association representatives to be set up in Kamandura Primary School.

‘In this program, High-quality nutritious meals shall be prepared in a central kitchen as per internationally recognized food safety standards and the food shall be supplied to various primary schools by food trucks between 8:00 to 9:00 am,’ said Eng Kiragu

He added that the kitchens will be powered by green energy using steam gas technology and will also use eco-briquettes and each child will be given a wristband called Tap2Eat, which is linked to a virtual wallet that parents use to pre-pay Sh15 for each meal

Tap2Eat is a digital mobile platform which students use to then Tap2Eat in under 5 seconds, where the parents will be required to pay for the subsidized lunches using mobile money.

Kiragu further cited that it’s not compulsory for all Primary Schools to take up the program, thus those with solid feeding programs can still progress with theirs.

‘10% of needy pupils in each school shall be sponsored by the program and if we are able to get more sponsors the charges shall be hopefully reduced with time,’ he noted.

Wawira Njiru founded the program in 2016 and currently operates in Nairobi, Kiambu, and Mombasa Counties

According to Njiru, Food for Education has grown in leaps and bounds and is now feeding 40,000 children daily, providing nutritious meals to those in schools across Kenya, and helping to boost attendance at the primary level and combat hunger.

‘We have delivered over seven million meals to date, leading to improved nutrition, academic performance, and higher high school transition rates,’ she said

The organization boasts huge growth as it is now addressing an urgent problem estimated at 29% of children in rural areas and 20% in urban areas.

At the launch of the program in Nairobi County last month, President William Ruto, said: The government has allocated Sh5 billion to extend the existing national feeding program from 1.6 million children to 4 million, while promising to increase the allocation of more counties committed funding

‘We are going to match counties who have a plan on a school feeding program, shilling for shilling, and if we do that, we can actually feed 8 million children in our schools,’ President Ruto said.

According to Save the Children,26 percent of Children in Kenya are living with stunted growth due to malnutrition.

Source: Kenya News Agency