The Governor of Nairobi, Johnson Sakaja has noted that the ‘Dishi na County’ school feeding program has helped increase the number of children going to school.
Speaking during an interview with Radio Jambo today, Friday morning, Sakaja said that they have seen children who were not going to school starting to attend classes.
He said that the feeding program has moved children from their homes and now they are taking themselves to school.
”When we started Dagoretti South, enrollment of children in the program went up by 150%. Those children were not going to school now they bring themselves. It is a way to attract them to school,” Sakaja said.
The governor also made it clear that the program has reduced stress for parents to a great extent.
“You find that there is a case where she goes to the grocery store and does not know whether she will get money fo food or not, but she knows that whether she gets it or not, her child must eat. It reduces a lot of stress, people enjoy it,” he said.
In addition, he said that the ‘Dishi na County’ nutrition program has given employment to about 1,500 parents from Nairobi county.
“It creates jobs for drivers, cooks, those who distribute food and cleaners,” he said.
He noted that parents being employed in the kitchen to cook for their children is a good move as they are more careful not to poison their children.
Sakaja said that initially they were aiming to provide food to 250,000 children in Nairobi but based on the response to enrollment in the program, they have been motivated to increase the target to 350,000 children.
The county head revealed that they have already completed the construction of several kitchens in some areas of Nairobi which are already serving more than 80,000 children. together with their partners, they aim to build about 14 kitchens.
