35,000 ECDE Machakos children to benefit from school feeding program

Machakos County Government has launched a feeding program to keep ECDE children in school.

Speaking while flagging off the food distribution exercise at her office on Wednesday, Machakos Governor Wavinya Ndeti said 1, 160 public ECDE centres spread in the nine sub-counties will benefit from the program.

Ndeti said about 35,000 children currently in PP1 and PP2 levels will be fed during the initiative dubbed ‘Chakula Tumboni, Masomo Kichwani’.

She said the prevailing situation of food and water occasioned by prolonged drought and failed rains had aggravated the feeding crisis in their learning institutions leading to dropouts and poor academic performance.

“Today we gather here to initiate a very important exercise of food distribution to our schools especially the Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) centres,” Ndeti said.

Ndeti said her administration had so far spent Sh30 million on the school feeding program.

“As I flag off the distribution of the assorted foodstuffs to the respective schools in all the 40 wards in Machakos County, I thank all who took part in making today a success,” she said.

Ndeti said it was the county government’s responsibility to invest in ECDE since it was a devolved function.

“If we do that successfully, the dividends will not only be to the individuals or to the County of Machakos, but to the national economy through improved livelihoods, workforce participation, and GDP growth,” Ndeti said.

She said early childhood was a crucial stage of life in terms of a child’s physical, intellectual, emotional and social development.

Ndeti said ECD was a cross-cutting area encompassing health, education, social protection, nutrition and caregiving.

She said children require those five interrelated components.

The governor said although reports from various research organizations show that the food security and nutritional status of the most vulnerable population groups are likely to deteriorate further due to various socio-economic impacts.

She said her administration prioritizes children's nutrition since it was among the vulnerable groups.

“We need to start from the grassroots if we will achieve the national and global Sustainable Development Goal 2 of achieving ‘Zero Hunger’ by 2030,” Ndeti said.

“We have seen time and again how various types of school feeding programmes boost the enrolment of children in early childhood education. Education is an important aspect in the realization of Vision 2030 in our country, and also in achieving my ‘Chakula Mezani, Pesa Mfukoni,’ dream for Machakos County,” Ndeti said.

“For our young children, it is ‘Chakula Tumboni, Masomo Kichwani’ now that we all know learning on an empty stomach is very difficult,” Ndeti said.

Ndeti said her government will continue to invest substantially in the expansion of the physical infrastructure facilities through progressive budgetary allocations to finance the gradual construction of ECDE classrooms.

She said the efforts were already bearing fruit though they were still far from achieving their desired target of having at least two classrooms in each ECDE facility.

Ndeti said her administration will set aside an additional budget in the next financial year to facilitate the important mission of promoting basic learning in the county.

“As we make this progress, we invite well-wishers and partners to jump in and complement our efforts to ensure our mission is actualized within a shorter duration than projected."

She said they encountered an overwhelming desire by residents to have physical infrastructure facilities for ECD centres expanded, as well as more teachers hired in line with the established benchmarks of the CBC curriculum.

Ndeti called on the National Government, private sector, parents, and well-wishers alongside other stakeholders to join hands with her administration to ensure they facilitate better ECD learning programs and environment for children.

“Good nutrition is the first line of defence against numerous childhood diseases which can leave their mark on a child for life,” Ndeti said.