Kaduna State Government has announced the beginning of free feeding of all public primary schools pupils with effect from January
17th, 2016.
Commissioner of Education, Science and Technology, Dr. Shehu Usman Adamu, while addressing newsmen in Kaduna, said public primary schools would resume 17 January while secondary schools will resume on January 11. He said this will allow for the fine-tuning and readiness of food vendors and schools to facilitate effective delivery of the free feeding programme.
According to Adamu, between 11 January and 15 January, vendors would be reconfirming their logistics and deepening their relationships with school authorities. The vendors recruited in each of the 255 wards have been organized into cooperative societies to serve free meals in every primary school in the state.
“The past few months have been a busy time for the Kaduna State Ministry of Education. During this time, the government has begun a programme of school rehabilitation, teacher recruitment and training needs assessment for current teachers. Each of these initiatives has recorded tremendous progress, and these priority areas will continue to command the attention of the government in the current session and beyond.
“As you are aware, the 2016 Budget makes ample provision for this government’s School Feeding programme. This intervention in improving the nutrition of our young pupils commences this term, from the very first day that school resumes. This intervention reinforces our thrust to expand access to education.”
“Therefore, the school feeding programme will be formally launched when pupils in government-owned primary schools in Kaduna State resume on Monday, 17 January 2016. This will afford the primary school pupils 11 weeks of tuition, with no loss of academic time. However, secondary schools across the state will resume as scheduled.
“Academic activities in secondary schools will commence on Monday, 11 January 2016, while boarders are expected to return to school by 10 January 2016.
“I am delighted to inform you that the vendors that will serve meals in every primary school have been recruited, and the daily menu has been set. The vendors in each of the 255 wards have been organized into cooperative societies. School-based management committees, comprising of parents and notable community figures, have also been sensitized to support, monitor and report on the performance of the programme in each of our schools.
“The PTAs and the SBMCs of each primary school will also meet theirrespective vendors to jointly review the procedures and modalities for effective service delivery.
“The lessons learnt during the dry-run will be swiftly applied. And we shall strictly monitor the programme to ensure that any bottlenecks that emerge in the initial stages are resolved. No one should doubt our resolve to deliver this promise to our pupils and their parents.
“The programme is designed to boost the economy at the grassroots by involving people at the community level as the vendors. It will also expand the market for our farmers even as it brings more of our people into the formal economy.
“I ask for the support of parents and school authorities to assist the satisfactory delivery of this programme. It is an initiative for which we must have the flexibility for continuous improvement. We expect that every day will surpass the preceding day in terms of delivery. For this reason, we will be announcing more feedback channels to enable our people to provide comments and suggestions, and expose shortcomings or wrongdoing,” Adamu said.
