Rwanda has allocated over Rwf27 billion to support the school feeding programme of all pre-primary, primary and secondary school students in the 2021 fiscal year.
Last week, Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente in a presentation on the promotion of TVETs and Polytechnics at a joint plenary sitting of both chambers of Parliament said that the funding during this fiscal year is intended to help all school children get meal.
Underscoring the importance of proper nutrition in the development of children, he said “The Government wants to ensure that children have proper feeding at school so that they study well and become good citizens”
The support consists of Rwf56 per day as contribution to each student’s feeding while at school.
However, Parliamentarians and school owners have expressed concern that the Rwf56 which the government has been contributing to the school feeding per student a day doesn’t reflect the current high cost of living.
The Premier told MPs in 2020 that though the support was small for the over 3 million students, it would amount to a significant annual expenditure of about Rwf38 billion from the national treasury.
Within the national school feeding programme, the government provides a subsidy of Rwf56 per student per meal a day, which is about 40 percent of the daily meal cost.
Based on a daily contribution of Rwf94 per student per meal, a parent would contribute Rwf1,974 per month, Rwf5,922 per quarter and Rwf17,860 per year.
