The churches have applauded many secondary schools in Kiambu county for serving their students with balanced meals.
The National Council of Churches of Kenya noted that schools have been working hard to ensure their students are healthy.
However, NCCK’s programmes officer Esther Idawo yesterday said many secondary schools face a challenge of the rising cost of commodities while working hard to feed their students.
She said as the schools struggle with the cost of food, other schools face a challenge of funds owing to parents taking long to clear their feeding programme fees while the government delays to release capitation.
Idawo spoke in the Limuru town when she headed a team from NCCK to visit schools in a programme it rolled out to sensitise secondary schools procurement teams on the need to eat balance diet.
"The teams involve the principles, cateresses, bursars and even cooks. The aim is to know what the students are fed and to sensitise them on the need to feed their students well," she said.
“Surprisingly, many of the schools we have visited, we have noted that there were no non-communicable diseases caused by lack of balanced diet or even lack of enough food. We give credit to the schools around” she added.
The NCCK is mostly targeting the boarding secondary schools.
"We are targeting boarding schools since students from day schools go home and eat different types of foods at home in the evening, morning and at the weekend," she said.
Idawo added that good eating habits help learners concentrate in classrooms and also help in preventing diseases.
"Students who are at the adolescence stage tend to eat a lot and they need to be fed well. By eating well, they prevent the spread on non-communicable diseases" she said.
She added that the NCCK was working in partnership with African Population Health and Research Centre.
Idawo urged parents to work hard and clear their balances before the end of first month of each term.
She also urged the government to address the capitation delays to assist the procurement teams plan well.
