Were the kids fed?
Education is fundamental to the economic growth and development of any nation and the ability of any nation to compete in the global economy is influenced by the viability of its education sector. The right to education is a basic human right that is legally guaranteed for all without any discrimination to status whether children, youth or adults. Specifically, Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that: “Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory…. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace….” In some developing countries including Nigeria, children suffer from various problems including poor health and nutritional deficiency which impact their access to, and participation in the education process. As a result, these countries have embraced the school feeding programme that aim to address the lack of access to quality food as a way of increasing school enrollment for children. In 2016, the Nigerian government introduced the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) as a scheme, intended to enhance the enrollment, health and education of children as well as the socio-economic development of the parent. Following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, President Muhammadu Buhari had directed the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to develop a strategy to sustain the school feeding programme during the lockdown without compromising the COVID-19 protocol. The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development indicated that the ministry is working with state governments to ensure that 3.1 million households nationwide benefitted from the programme. According to the Programme Manager in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the modified school feeding programme otherwise known as the “Lockdown School Feeding Programme” is different from the known school feeding programme in that in the former, food is not cooked for the school children but the various households captured with their vouchers simply come forward to receive their items at designated primary schools. In the 2019 school feeding programme however, food was cooked and served the pupils directly in their various schools.