The National Parents Association (NPA) has pleaded with the government to rescue millions of school children who are walking a tightrope by retaining the feeding programme.
The association National Chairman David Silas Obuhatsa has stated that the government should understand that when the feeding programme is removed, it is as good as telling them to forget about school and education.
He told the government to think twice about the withdrawal which has been proposed, noting that the move will be very dangerous considering that food and clean drinking water are the critical things that attract children to school in many poverty stricken areas.
“Kenyans understand very well that many millions of poor children especially in marginalized areas attend school because of food since their parents cannot afford meals at home. What then happens if this programme is withdrawn especially at a time when the nation is recovering from the worst catastrophe of dangerous rains and floods?” wondered Obuhatsa.
According to Obuhatsa, food is one of the most crucial needs among school going children without which the standards of education, including school enrollment, retention and transition will be badly affected and the gains made in CBC.
He noted that the decision will be a crisis at a time when Kenyan parents are looking forward to the great success of CBC, mainly the transition to Grade 9, revealing that learning will be totally affected in many counties where children depend on relief food.
“It’s therefore the loud cry of parents that the government should not remove the feeding programme but instead more funding should be sought and allocated towards it. This is one of the major pillars that schools in about 27 counties in the country, including West Pokot, Baringo, Turkana, Kajiado, Samburu and Mandera, to name a few, stand on,” said Obuhatsa.
“As it’s written in the Bible that when the foundations are destroyed, the righteous will have nothing to do. Without food in schools, the answer will be simple – parents will engage their children in other activities that may find them food outside class rather than sit hungry in school. We cannot cheat ourselves that children will leave home hungry to go to schools where there is no food,” he added.
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