Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has outlined a plan before the Senate Education Committee to ensure learners in informal schools benefit from the county’s flagship feeding programme, Dishi na County.

Appearing before the committee at Bunge Towers, Sakaja said the county government is mapping out public schools located near informal learning institutions as a short-term measure to enable children from informal areas to access meals during lunchtime.

“In the 230 public schools we have in Nairobi, we operate 17 central kitchens that currently feed 316,000 learners, to include all informal schools, we would need 69 more kitchens. It’s a budget issue. As we work on that, we’ve identified nearby public schools where children from informal schools can go during lunch to have a meal,” Sakaja told the committee.

The Governor noted that expanding the programme to cover informal schools will require additional funding and infrastructure support.

“If it were up to me, every single child in Nairobi would be on Dishi na County, including those in informal schools,” he said.

The Dishi na County initiative, launched by the Nairobi City County Government, provides daily meals to learners in public primary and ECDE schools across the city.

Senators sought clarification on how the county intends to extend the programme to thousands of learners in informal settlements who are yet to benefit from the initiative.

Governor Sakaja also addressed the committee on the broader challenges facing education in Nairobi, including limited public school spaces and the rising demand for bursaries.

“The 210 public schools we have cannot meet the demand for our population of over seven million people, getting land for new schools is a major challenge because it’s scarce and expensive. Despite this, the county is building 1,500 ECDE classrooms, while the national government is constructing 5,000 more to help bridge the gap.” he continued

He added that Nairobi requires affirmative action to increase the number of public schools, saying the existing 210 institutions are “far from adequate” to meet the city’s educational needs.