Samburu county school feeding programme targets 40,000 ECDE pupils

Samburu Governor Lati Lelelt during the distribution of food consignment for the school feeding programme targeting 44,000 children in over 500 ECDE centers across the county. [Michael Saitoti, Standard]

At least 40,000 pupils are expected to benefit from the revamped Samburu county government school feeding programme by the end of 2025.

The county has partnered with Kenya Drylands Education Fund to distribute the food in 540 Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) centres.

The County Education CEC Mark Egelan, said the organisation will handle the logistics, periodic monitoring and evaluation at no extra cost.

"In the current financial year, the county allocated Sh70 million to purchase foodstuff while Kenya Drylands Education Fund will do the logistics, transportation, monitoring, and evaluation of the ECDE program across the county at no extra cost," Egelan said.

He spoke during the distribution of food supplies, including 4,100 bags of rice, 700 bags of beans, 700-litre containers of cooking oil, and 100 bales of salt in Maralal town on January 14, 2025.

Egelan said the school feeding programme will ensure retention of learners in the ECDE centres, address nutrition challenges and improve education.

"The partnership with the Kenya Drylands Education Fund has helped the department save funds that would be used in other projects," he said.

Kenya Drylands Education Fund Co-Executive Director and Co-Founder Ahmed Kura committed to ensure the food reached all pupils on time.

"We will be doing the distribution at the beginning of every term, do periodic monitoring and evaluation exercises for the school feeding programme, and ensure all the 540 ECDE centres are well taken care of," Kura said.

Kura revealed that the organisation will be doing reports on the requirements for all the learning centres, identifying areas of support and what needs to be done.

Musa Abdile, the head teacher of St Paul's Primary School, which is among the beneficiaries, termed the initiative as noble, saying the partnership would ensure the success of the programme.

"Initially, the school feeding programme used to have logistical challenges that delayed the delivery. But now with the help of the NGO, we are sure that the foodstuff will reach us on time," he said.