France to support 4,000 Kisumu pupils Through Food for Education’s Tap to Eat School Feeding System.
France has partnered to support 4,000 pupils in Kisumu County through the Food for Education school feeding programme to boost enrolment and retention in public primary schools.
The announcement was made by the French Ambassador to Kenya, Arnaud Suquet, during a visit to Kanyamedha Primary School. Ambassador Suquet said the French government is committed to addressing classroom hunger as part of its overall development cooperation with Kenya.
“France has been advocating for school feeding globally. We know if children don’t get fed at school they will drop out or not thrive in the education system,” Ambassador Suquet said.
He said France has supported a similar programme in Nairobi which has benefited over 20,000 pupils and Kisumu was the first county outside Nairobi to benefit.
“Kisumu was our first choice outside Nairobi. Through our support 4,000 pupils will benefit from our intervention, 1,300 of them here at Kanyamedha Primary,” Ambassador Suquet added.
The Ambassador said the intervention is to support vulnerable families who cannot afford the subsidized KSh15 daily meal contribution and ensure no child is left out. He also said the programme will roll out to other counties including Mombasa and called on development partners to join in scaling up the programme.
“We won’t be here forever. So the idea is to make this model sustainable by bringing on board local and international partners,” he said.
The programme in Kisumu is being implemented by Food for Education which currently feeds 22,000 pupils daily across 24 schools in the county. The organisation uses its Tap to Eat system which employs Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled wristbands linked to parental contributions to deliver subsidized meals.
According to Imelda Kinyoduri, Senior Community Outreach Associate at Food for Education, the French Embassy’s support will add 4,000 pupils in Kisumu to the programme.
“The French Embassy’s support will add 4,000 learners to the programme. These pupils will be fully sponsored so they will not pay anything for the meals,” Kinyoduri said.
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She said the subsidized meals which are mainly rice with beans or green grams and vegetables and bananas have seen an increase in enrolment, retention and nutritional health of pupils in schools where the programme has been rolled out. She added that the programme has created over 4,000 jobs countrywide with majority of them being parents who cook and serve the meals.
The France and Food for Education partnership will help address school hunger, improve education outcomes and community based employment.
France to support 4,000 Kisumu pupils Through Food for Education’s Tap to Eat School Feeding System.
