- The forum has brought together governments and development partners to discuss strategies for strengthening school feeding systems.
- Ogamba has emphasised that school meals improve learner attendance, retention and overall health, particularly for children from vulnerable households.
Kenya has renewed its call for stronger partnerships to ensure sustainable provision of school meals, with Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos Ogamba highlighting the programme’s role in keeping learners in school and supporting their healthy development.
Ogamba joined First Lady Rachel Ruto at a high-level forum in New York on the sidelines of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly, where governments and development partners discussed strategies for strengthening school feeding programmes.
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The meeting was convened by the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Rockefeller Foundation, which are among the key partners supporting the implementation of Kenya’s School Meals Programme. Participants explored ways of building sustainable systems for providing meals to learners, particularly in communities where food insecurity and poverty can affect school attendance and participation.
Ogamba said school meals are an important component of efforts to promote access to quality education, noting that learners who receive meals are better supported to remain in school and participate effectively in learning. Beyond improving attendance and retention, school feeding programmes contribute to the health and wellbeing of children, enabling them to concentrate on their studies and develop physically and cognitively.
The discussions in New York come as Kenya continues to work with development partners to expand and strengthen school meals as part of its broader education agenda. The government has increasingly positioned school feeding as a key intervention in addressing barriers that prevent children from attending and completing their education.
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The forum brought together stakeholders seeking to identify sustainable financing and implementation approaches that can enable governments to maintain school meals programmes while responding to the growing needs of learners. The discussions also underscored the importance of collaboration between governments, international organisations, foundations and other partners in ensuring that school meals remain a reliable component of education systems.
For Kenya, strengthening the programme is expected to complement wider efforts to improve access, retention and learning outcomes, particularly among children from vulnerable households.
By Kithinji Njeru
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