School meals are an important safety net for vulnerable children from food-insecure house…

Motion text

THAT, aware that school meals are an important safety net for vulnerable children from food-insecure households and communities in Kenya; appreciating that school meals have multiple benefits, such as increased school enrolments and attendance as well as a significant and positive contribution to reducing hunger and improving nutritional intake; noting that primary school completion rates have been found to be higher in schools with meals provided, thus school meals remain a core development intervention to support the country’s achievements in the education sector; recognizing that some county governments have adopted direct and community-led initiatives for ECDE school feeding programmes; concerned that the exercise is not supported by a clear policy and budgetary framework and does not support pupils in primary and secondary schools who form the basic education ecosystem; cognizant of the fact that, where school meal programmes have been initiated, it has been noted that they encounter different challenges that impede their effectiveness, including insufficient resources due to low budgetary allocation and budget cuts, lack of a school feeding policy, inadequate safe cooking and drinking water, drought and famine, poor food storage, a lengthy procurement process, insecurity and dilapidated infrastructure, among others; this House therefore resolves that the Ministry of Education, through the relevant State Department, immediately develops a school feeding policy to cover basic education pupils and sustain the program in order to ensure that children are maintained in schools for effective learning and to improve their well-being.