Budget cut puts 2.6 million poor learners on the edge of dropping out
The budget cut goes against President Ruto’s pledge to double the funding and expand coverage to four million children.
The government’s decision to cut funding for the school feeding programme has triggered fresh concern about its commitment to education access and social support for vulnerable families.
The allocation has dropped from Sh4.9 billion to Sh3 billion far below the Sh7.2 billion the Education Ministry had requested to run the programme effectively.
Currently, more than 2.65 million children across 26 counties rely on the school feeding programme to get a daily meal, support that enables many of them to stay in class.
These learners come from some of the country’s poorest regions, including arid and semi-arid lands and informal settlements in urban areas.
The reduced funding has now put their continued access to education at risk. With less food to go around, schools could struggle to retain pupils, especially where parents rely heavily on school meals to meet their children’s basic needs.
The move appears to contradict pledges made by President William Ruto and the Kenya Kwanza Alliance during the 2022 campaigns. In their manifesto, they promised to double the budget and expand the number of beneficiaries from two million to four million. They also proposed the use of conditional grants to counties to support up to eight million learners.
However, the number of children served has only grown by 113,330 since Ruto took office—from 2,538,200 to 2,651,600—falling far short of the targeted expansion. The Sh3 billion now allocated is still below the Sh3.92 billion that would have represented a true doubling of the original budget.
At the same time, other State departments are receiving more funding. The State House and lodges will get an extra Sh2.3 billion for renovations, and the Executive Office budget has also been expanded. These changes have raised questions over whether the government is placing enough emphasis on key social programmes.
The Ministry of Education runs the school feeding programme with help from some county governments. With the budget cut, its ability to reach the most at-risk children has been sharply weakened.
