Students in boarding secondary schools in Kaduna State will now each be fed at a cost of N300 per day. This follows approval by the Kaduna State Executive Council that the allocation per student be increased N180 to N300 per day. This will cost the government N2.25bn every school year to feed 27,501 students.
The government took the decision to increase the feeding allocation after noting the hike in the prices of foodstuff across the country. A market survey conducted by the Kaduna State Bureau of Statistics between June and September 2016 revealed that there has been a 30% to 40% increase in the prices of food stuff.
This is the second upward review of the feeding allocation this year. In January 2016, the Kaduna State Government,in trying to improve the quality of meals given to students in the state boarding schools, had approved N60 per meal as against the N44 per meal that was budgeted in the past. This N60 per meal was piloted in six schools, whose feeding was outsourced to private caterers. Following the significant improvement in the quality of the meals, the scheme will now be applied to all the 31 boarding schools owned by the state government.
This decision means that each student will be fed at N100 per meal, up from the previous N60. Professor Jonathan Nok, the Commissioner of Education, said that “the goal is to ensure that students get the adequate nutrition they need to boost their intellectual capability, stimulate healthy growth andensure they get a well-rounded education”.