An organization has come to the aid of a school in Kitengela that had suspended all Physical Exercise (PE) lessons following increased cases of learners fainting due to hunger.
This is after K24 Digital exclusively highlighted the plight of the primary school that hosts over 1800 pupils whose 30% were already forced to stay home for lack of energy.
Faith Kenya Mission, a US-based non-governmental organization donated food and rolled out a plan to ensure that pupils of GK Prison Primary School are not kept out of school due to a lack of food again.
In the plan, the learners will be receiving a loaf and a packet of milk every day for the next two weeks as organizers work on a long-lasting program for next year.
“This is just a token contribution to complement the efforts being put in by other players to alleviate the hunger crisis in the school. We found out that the ongoing feeding programme only feeds the children twice a week, so we wanted to quickly bridge the gap to make sure that they have something to eat every day for the remaining two weeks of the semester. We will consult the school and the county government to develop a more structured and sustainable approach for the new year,” the organization said in a statement.
The program also saw the school benefit from books aimed at encouraging a reading culture.
Prior to the aid, the school had converted its PE lessons to verbal and teachers were using the periods for counseling.
And the school administration was appealing to be considered among needy learning institutions that require urgent food interventions.
"Our PE lessons are now verbal engagement. We have suspended physical activities like football and racing due to high cases of children fainting. The emergency cases have increased and upon first aid, we discovered that the incidents were as a result of hunger," one of the school’s deputy headteachers Nancy Ledama said.
"If we get food relief, we will be able to sustain more children in school. A meal every day will play a huge role in encouraging pupils to report to the school," head teacher Jeremiah Maloi said.
The initiative comes amid concerns by local leaders over the high rate of school dropout due to hunger.
Public primary schools in remote areas have adversely been affected with 150, 000 families entirely depending on relief aid.
Tens of cattle which are a source of livelihood among locals in Kajiado county have succumbed to hunger leaving families helpless.
