The government slashed the school feeding program budget by Ksh500 million which will see the children depending on this program suffer as they are likely to miss school.
A few weeks after the government announced free lunch in schools as an initiative to keep children in schools, the Education Ministry warned of disruptions in the sector as they announced deep budget cuts recently.
The government announced that it would allocate Ksh1.6 billion from Ksh2.4 billion allocated in 2018 hence causing a disruption in the program.
The school meal program targets 1.5 million school going children each day with the government setting aside Ksh11 per child every day.
According to Basic education PS Belio Kipsang, children who depend on the food from this program are likely to miss school.
"School feeding program is so critical... those of us who come from a place where getting three meals is not a problem may not appreciate what happens to our children who are in ASAL areas," Kipsang mentioned to the Parliament's Education Committee on Thursday.
He noted that he was willing to retain the school feeding budget through all means so as to retain kids in school.
"When we see the net enrollment in areas such as Mandera as low as 25 percent and one of the things that retain these kids in school is removed, I would not mind as the accounting officer to lose resources within my budget but retain the school feeding program,"
In June 2018, The World Food Programme (WFP) dissociated itself from funding Kenyan school going children through the provision of food for two years, after being operational since 1980.
The WFP exited as their contract ended in June 2018 and the Kenyan Government wanted to come in as the official school feeding program body.
