In 2014, Mombasa County Governor Hassan Joho commissioned a research to find out why there was an increase in the number of learners dropping out of school in the county.
He later found a solution and five years later, the program has succeeded, making him an envy of other county governments who are now borrowing a leaf from his administration.
The research conducted by the Department of Education showed that providing milk to pupils and constructing modern and well-equipped ECDEs could improve children concentration, keep them in class and better their overall performance.
In 2015, learners started receiving a 200ml packet of milk daily after Joho launched the free milk program dubbed Maziwa ya County 001 to retain the learners and entice others to join public schools.
“The milk program which began in 2015, has seen an increase in beneficiaries from 26,700 pupils to 32,000 in 97 public primary schools. Learners benefit from a 200ml packet of milk every school day,” Joho remarked.
The county uses Ksh120 million every financial year to fund the program where PP1 to Grade Three pupils in all the 97 public primary schools in Mombasa receive milk from Monday to Friday.
“Many pupils from poor families in slums could either not go to school or dropped out from the learning institutions due to poverty but, today, many come to school for a packet of milk; this has been a success,” Amakobe Nanjira , a teacher at Amani Primary School echoed.
Joho also started building modern Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) centers in the six sub-counties of Jomvu, Changamwe, Likoni, Kisauni, Nyali, and Mvita.
Today, the more than 10 disability-friendly ECDE schools are fully equipped with modern materials and have attracted many learners.
Several parents and teachers from private schools have been urging Governor Joho to include their children in the program after sub-county administrators started coordinating the distribution of the milk while urging parents to take advantage of the county infrastructure to enroll their children in school.
“Given more resources, we will consider including learners in private schools because they are our children,” Mombasa County Director of Communications Richard Chacha promised.
