A total of 65,294 children from nine sub-counties in Meru County will from next month get free milk, according to a senior education official.
The children in the 773 Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) centres will get the milk twice a week.
“We have set a budget of Sh80 million for the free milk for the children. The milk will be in 200ml packets. We would have liked them to have the milk five days a week but we were hampered by lack of enough funds,” said Linner Nkirote, the Education executive.
She said that amount will provide milk for the first and second terms as Governor Kiraitu Murungi works to fulfill one of his election pledges.
Speaking at the county headquarters in Meru town, Ms Nkirote said the department was only engaging processors who are registered by the Kenya Dairy Board to ensure the milk is of the highest quality.
READ MORE
Insecurity: Isiolo residents query new trend in rustling in town estates
Meru County Assembly adopts plan to upgrade Nkubu to municipality
Expectations high as wind power project set for Tigania
Over 291,000 Kenyans register for UDA grassroots elections in 20 counties
“They will be in charge of supplying and distributing the milk to the schools,” said Nkirote (right).
She said a final decision had not been taken on particular days the children will get the milk.
“We would prefer they get it on Mondays and Fridays, but we have not settled on that yet,” Nkirote said.
But the Executive noted the initiative faces challenges as some of the schools lack infrastructure to store the milk safely.
“Many (schools) do not have storage facilities. We are liaising with local administrators to address the issue,” she revealed.
At the same time, Nkirote said a significant increase in enrollment numbers was envisaged due to the milk incentive.
“Naturally we foresee a situation where we are going to have a large number in ECDE centres. More children will look forward to going to school. That is good for us because the aim is to encourage them to love school,” she said.
