Nairobi's free milk programme lures back to class

Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) centres in Nairobi have recorded increased enrolment since the introduction of free milk programme last month, the county Education executive said.

Ms Janet Ouko on Friday noted that enrolment in the ECD centres has risen by 4,080 children since education was made free and the free milk programme introduced.

Ms Ouko pointed out that more than 200 children have re-enrolled to school since September 7, “when we began distributing the milk”, adding that she expects enrolment in the 229 centres in the county will rise from the current 17,000 to about 23,000 children by December.

“You cannot teach a child on an empty stomach. Most come from slums where they hardly eat anything in the morning.

"In Jehovah Jireh School in Kasarani, the children only come back for the milk and that is how you manage to keep them in school. It is our hope that we can extend the programme to Class Three,” Ms Ouko said.

The free milk programme was launched by Governor Mike Sonko in September in partnership with Brookside Dairy Limited.

HEALTH

Ms Ouko said the programme will see the delivery of a packet of milk two times a week to each of the 17,000 children in all public ECDE centres in Nairobi.

“The milk programme is a donation from Brookside as they are in a campaign to encourage children to take three packets of milk per day to boost their nutritional needs,” she said.

She observed that children, especially those from the informal settlements, were being kept at home by their parents as they could not afford the fees required and also could not take their children to school while hungry.

“Schools used to charge at ECDE level. You could get that to enrol a child in a school like Karen C, one was to pay Sh15,000 and that is why public ECD centres did not have children.

"They had run away and gone to non-formal schools where they were not being charged much but now every child will get a capacitation of Sh3,200 which will be given to the school directly,” Ms Ouko said.

TEACHERS

The Education executive explained that to cater for the increase in enrolment, the county is recruiting additional 520 ECD teachers who will start teaching from next year first term where every centre will get at least two teachers each.

“Every ECDE centre will receive at least two more teachers before the end of the term. We have also commissioned renovation of all the 229 ECD centres in Nairobi because they were really in bad state. The toilets had been run down and the children were forced to share with the primary section,” she said.

Ms Ouko added that the county will soon embark on the construction of a modern ECDE centre in every ward in Nairobi.

Currently, there are 10 out of 85 wards in Nairobi that do not have a single public primary school or ECDE centre.

The county is in the process of finalising a proposal to develop modern early childhood schools across Nairobi.

They include Utawala, Pipeline, Nyayo Highrise, Ngei, Ngando, Mabatini, Lucky Summer, Laini Saba, Kware and Imara Daima.