“My government is committed to ensure that cases of malnutrition drastically drop in this county. That’s why we are trying all means to reduce the cases. The flour is highly nutritive and is blended with 21 minerals to curb malnutrition,” he said.
Some 100,200 children in West Pokot are set to benefit from a feeding programme of the county government with porridge flour worth Sh30 million to be distributed to ECDE centres.
Governor John Lonyangapuo who flagged off the programme on Friday said the certified porridge flour will help in retaining children in school and reduce malnutrition.
Some 1,116 ECDE centres will benefit.
He said the programme has been categorised in two groups where first priority has been given to ECDE centres that operate on their own.
“Today we are flagging off 5500 bags of porridge to stand alone ECDE centres worth Sh10 million,” Lonyangapuo said.
The governor said the remaining batch of Sh20 million will be handed over in the next two weeks and will go to ECDE centres integrated under other learning institutions.
He said they gave first priority to stand alone centres because the other ECDEs were under learning institutions that are already implementing the school feeding programme.
Lonyangapuo said cases of malnutrition were high and that the porridge flour contains various minerals that will fight the undernourishment.
“My government is committed to ensure that cases of malnutrition drastically drop in this county. That’s why we are trying all means to reduce the cases. The flour is highly nutritive and is blended with 21 minerals to curb malnutrition,” he said.
He attributed the problem to poor feeding habits among young ones.
“The first years of a child's life set the stage for all future growth. Furthermore, good nutrition plays a crucial role during formative years when there's rapid brain development,” Lonyangapuo said.
The governor said the feeding programme has led to increased enrolment since its launch.
He said the county has constructed 1200 classrooms and recruited 710 teachers for ECDE centres.
He asked parents to take children to school and make use of the teachers and the infrastructure his government has set up.
“We have opened new centres to help reduce the distance to school for the young ones. Let’s make good use of the centres since we have also employed trained teachers,” the governor said
A teacher at Karas centre Chamer Pamela thanked the county government for improving infrastructure in ECDEs. She said children were previously learning under trees.
“The county government has helped in developing infrastructure in the centres since most schools are no longer learning under trees,” she said.
Edited by P.O