N4bn school feeding programme benefits 25,000 pupils in Kaduna

The Kaduna State government, on Thursday, gave the assurance that “almajiri children in the state would be given qualitative educational opportunities.”

Also, the government said about 25,000 school pupils spread across the 23 local councils of the state have already benefited from the school feeding programme, which cost the government N4 billion.

The assurance came from the Special Assistant to Governor Uba Sani on the school feeding programme, Dr. Fauziya Buhari-Ado, in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja.

According to the statement, Buhari-Ado spoke while hosting some Islamic and underprivileged school pupils as part of the Eid el-Kabir Sallah celebration held at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua bilingual primary school situated in Maraban Gonda, Sabongari local council of Kaduna state.

She stated that the “government decided to fete the pupils who combine both Western and Islamic education as part of an ongoing effort to ensure that children of the less privileged have access to quality education in the state.”

Fauziya further stated that the school feeding programme, which so far cost the state government over N4 billion has boosted school enrolment and retention as well as stimulated the local economy in the state.

She said already,” No fewer than 25,000 school pupils spread across the 23 local councils of the state are already benefiting from the school feeding programme.”

Fauziya also revealed that the event, which witnessed the slaughtering of the sacrificial ram, special Eid lunch, cutting of cake and distribution of free gifts, provided her the opportunity to interact with the pupils who were initially out-of-school children in the state.

An official of one of the Islamic schools, AbdulHamid Ahmed described the school feeding initiative as, “a welcome development since it has created the enabling environment for vulnerable children to have equal opportunities to acquire education in the state.

He acknowledged that the school feeding programme has impacted positively in a tremendous way by increasing school enrolment in his school.

The village head of Filin Malawa, Magaji Datiya, however, thanked Governor Sani’s led administration for the kind gesture.