Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua says Kenya has made great progress in ensuring school-going children get free meals in its efforts to offer quality education and ensure the well-being of all Kenyan children.
Speaking on Monday in Rome, Italy, while addressing the UN Food Systems Summit, DP Gachagua noted that the school feeding will not only transform the food system in Kenya but also help the country develop its human capital.
”Kenya believes in the collective dream of human capital development by offering quality education for all and addressing the Sustainable Development Goal agendas of zero hunger and good health and well-being,” he said.
The DP explained, that despite Kenya making great progress since the introduction of free and compulsory education in 2003, there are still glaring inequalities among school-going children across the country due to a combination of factors, including poverty, food insecurity, recurrent droughts, conflicts and displacements, and periodic migration.
”To create an equal and enabling environment for all school-going children, the Kenya Government is supporting various school meals programmes mainly targeting children in the ASAL regions. Feeding our children while in school is a solution to a myriad of challenges facing our children, including child poverty and malnutrition, among others,” he added.
He said the government is supporting various school meal programmes mainly targeting children in the arid and semi-arid (ASAL) regions. The Deputy President jetted out of the country on Saturday night for the three-day high-level United Nations Food Systems Summit Stock-Taking that kicked off today in Rome.
He will address the high-level four-day meeting on behalf of President William Ruto under the invitation of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
