First Lady Rachel Ruto has pledged to establish kitchen gardens in all public schools as part of her efforts to support the school feeding program.
Speaking at the National World Children’s Day celebration at Kaptembwa Primary School in Nakuru, she launched the “Championing the Voice of Children” initiative. The program focuses on growing short-term, nutritious crops like vegetables and herbs in school gardens to improve children’s access to healthy food.
In collaboration with government departments and partners, the initiative also plans to introduce fruit gardens in schools to boost children’s fruit intake. For schools with arable land, the First Lady announced plans to partner with the Ministry of Agriculture to enhance food production within these institutions.
“We are championing sustainability in school feeding programs through school-based food production,” she said, highlighting that hunger and malnutrition are significant barriers to children’s learning and development.
Delivering President William Ruto’s message, First Lady Rachel Ruto reaffirmed the government’s commitment to ensuring that every child in Kenya has access to education, healthcare, and the opportunity to thrive free from hunger.
“The World Bank’s Africa Pulse Report from October 2024 revealed that seven in ten children in Sub-Saharan Africa miss out on pre-primary education due to hunger and malnutrition,” she said.
Rachel, a trained teacher, emphasized the difficulties of educating hungry children. “Hunger is not just a pain in the stomach; it’s a barrier to learning, a stolen opportunity, and a deferred dream. We cannot afford to let hunger rob our children of their potential,” she said.
The First Lady also revealed the government’s ambition to expand the school feeding program, with a goal of providing 10 million daily meals by 2030. Currently, 2.4 million children benefit from the program, and efforts are underway to close the gap for the remaining 7.5 million.
“We aim to provide 2 million additional meals to close this gap,” she added, urging for more partnerships to achieve universal school feeding.
