Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja led the groundbreaking ceremonies for Seven Central Kitchens this week as part of the ongoing School Feeding Program, Dishi na County.
This is the launch of the third phase which when completed will see all sub counties in Nairobi have a central Kitchen.
The seven kitchens are: Dandora 1 Primary School (Embakasi East), Donholm Primary School (Embakasi North), Mutuini Primary School (Dagoretti South), Uhuru Gardens Primary School ( Langata), Ndururuno Primary School ( Starehe), Umoja 1 Primary School ( Embakasi West) and Zawadi Primary School (Kamkunji).
The first six kitchen ground breaking was done on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the ground breaking of the Kamkunji kitchen expected soon.
Once operational, these kitchens are ready and operationalized it will see the number of school going children fed under Dishi Na County increased from 184,000 learners to over 310,000 in public primary schools and Public Early Childhood Development Centres across the County.
The parents are required to pay Ksh5 for each learner daily while the County Government of Nairobi caters for the other costs.
Speaking while ground breaking Kitchen at Nduru-Runo Primary school emphasized on the positive impacts the Dishi Na County to the public schools and school going children.
“The enrolment in public schools has gone up to over 310,000 kids from the initial 250,000 when we did the census and this can be attributed to the subsidized meal provided by the county at a cost of only KShs 5,” said Governor Sakaja.
The Governor launched the Dishi na County Programme in In June, 2023 during the ground breaking of the 10 central kitchens, and the first hot nutritious meal served 28 August, 2023.
The second phase was rolled out in January, 2024, when the 10 Central kitchens were operationalized ensuring 184,000 children from 106 public schools received hot nutritious meal.