• School heads revealed that they are yet to receive funding on the project since June last year.
• Learners depending on the programme to remain in school now risk dropping out.
Image: JOSEPH KANGOGO
Uncertainty over the school feeding programme continues as the government is yet to release funds to cover 13 counties.
Learners depending on the programme to remain in school now risk dropping out.
Sources from the Education ministry indicate the affected counties formerly got the project funding from the World Food Program and have not received cash since the beginning of the year when the organisation pulled out.
The programme targets 1.5 million school children each day with the government setting aside Sh11 per child every day.
With the exit of WFP in June last year, the government reaffirmed capability to sustain the programme.
Government says at the exit of WFP, there was enough food left in the agencies stores that could run the institutions for another eight months. This is roughly two terms.
The food was to cover the third term of 2018 and the beginning of 2019.
However, some schools depleted the supply before the planned time and even those that managed to hit the April mark, are now unable to sustain the programme as the government has not sent funds out yet.
The number of students attending school in the arid areas has significantly dropped.
Yesterday, headteachers who sought anonymity said the institutions are witnessing a sharp decline in the number of learners attending schools each day.
"When there is not enough to eat, school can quickly become an afterthought," a school head told the Star yesterday.
The ministry has also suffered a setback after the Treasury slashed funds to support the project by allocating Sh1.6 billion from Sh2.1 billion allocated in this financial year.
Basic Education PS Belio Kipsang earlier this year said the cuts will affect efforts to retains children in school arid and semi arid areas. Kipsang says the direct impact of this will be a reduction in number of pupils receiving food in target areas.
"School feeding programme 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 told the Parliament's Education committee on Thursday.
The PS was appearing before the committee to give observations on the budget policy statement.
"When we see the net enrollment in areas such as Mandera as low as 25 per cent and this is one of the things that retain this kids in school, I would not mind as the accounting officer to lose resources within my budget but retain the school feeding programme," the PS said.
The programme was initiated in the 1980s with the then government instituting a federally funded school feeding through a school milk programme.
The milk programme was aimed at increasing primary school enrollment as well as ensuring a stable market for Kenyan dairy producers.
The initiative, which provided free milk to 4.3 million primary school students, failed shortly after its launch due to high costs.