School Feeding Programs to Address Hunger in Education
Here in Kenya, especially in the rural areas, most families are incapable of adequately and sustainably providing their children with the required three meals per day. This has tampered with the growth and educational outcomes for many children, who would have otherwise have become great professionals had they had a chance. In addressing this problem, Light Up Hope, which is an NGO dedicated to addressing the issue, introduced a school feeding program for pupils and students in Kajiado County in the year 2022. This followed after reports disclosed that most pupils were dropping out of school because of the effects of long drought.
Implementation and Reach
The school feeding program was implemented in 210 public primary schools under Kajiado County, fed some 79,000 children from all backgrounds. By ensuring that students in this regiod had a diversified diet, the initiative helped improve their nutrition and health status, as they were able to concentrate, achieve their highest dream potentials academically.
Positive Results
Moses Murage, the Executive Director of Light Up Hope revealed that the school enrollment rate has remarkably surged since the initiative began. He told journalists at the Lokichar Primary School in Turkana County on 12th January that Public primary schools in Kajiado County had recorded an enrollment of 84 percent between 2022 and 97 percent between 2024. The surge in numbers was explained by the fact that school going children were offered nutritive meals that ensured they could spend more time in school and concentrate better in their studies that eventually achieved better performance.
Murage articulates the relationship between nutrition and learning as related. “Our organization is education focused, and we know that a hungry child cannot focus in class. Once a child is fed well, they are able to concentrate in class, leading to good performance”, he said.
Beyond Feeding: Educational Scholarships
In addition to the feeding program, Light Up Hope reaches out by offering educational scholarships to bright but needy students. Needy but bright children are offered scholarships right from primary school to secondary school, and even university, giving them a chance to pursue their dreams.
According to Rebecca Magire, a representative from Light Up Hope, the organization provides education to alleviate poverty. It currently supports 260 girls in high schools and 100 university students on full scholarships. These girls come from underprivileged families and are spared from early marriages, so they will have a fighting chance to beat the poverty cycle.
“Education is a main way out of poverty; we tend to alleviate poverty in the country through supporting progress in education. We are currently supporting over 200 girls in high school and 100 in universities across the country to enable them to pursue their dreams”, Magire added.