WFP earmarks sh80b for Karamoja children

The World Food Program (WFP) has earmarked sh80b to provide lunch to learners in primary and secondary schools in Karamoja in the next five years.

A total of 123,400 learners in close to 300 schools will benefit from the feeding scheme this year. A total of 310 tons of maize, beans and cooking oil will be provided under the WPF school feeding programme in 2016. However, the program will wind up by 2021.

According to the WFP country director, Michael Dunford, the Karamoja feeds Karamoja program which was launched by government in 2015 with support from UN to supplement their efforts is a major step towards achieving zero hunger, Sustainable Development Goals and Vision 2040.

"The government last year took a major step in adopting home-grown solutions in Karamoja. The Karamoja feeds Karamoja programme provided 20 percent of all the school year's cereal needs," Dunford said.

Since the introduction of Universal Primary Education (UPE) in 1997, there has been a conversation on whether parents should pay a fee to schools to prepare lunch for their children.

Some parents rejected any attempts by schools to collect fees for meals from them, arguing that the government is entirely responsible for their children's welfare while at school.

The education ministry recently passed a feeding policy that allows parents with children attending schools located in urban areas to pay a fee to cater for their children's lunch.

In rural areas, parents are required to pack lunch for their children to school. But the policy implementation is facing resistance from parents, especially in rural areas.

The state minister for primary education, Chrysostom Muyingo, says the ministry has crafted proposals that will 'cure' challenges relating to provision of meals to learners at schools.

The proposals, he explains, will soon be unveiled to cabinet for consideration.