Vendor Pay's 100 Pupils School fees

Cross River State Commemorate with Africa Day of school feeding held 1 March, 2017.

To commemorate the third edition of the African Day of School Feeding at Cross River State, the event was officially celebrated at PCN  Primary School Akim, Quo Town, Calabar. About 50 guests and partners attended including the Commissionner of education, director of supervision and monitoring cross river state, SA on Home Grown school feedings, bakery association of cross river state, Manager of Happy food, manager of Cheno bakery, manager of Osinachi, manager of Royal bread, teachers and manager of Ekemini bread. A delegation of the Commissioner of Education was also represented at the event held under the theme: “ Enabling governance to advance children and youthful potential through promoting sustainable school feedings programme "

The Africa Day for School Feeding was instituted by the Assembly of Heads of States and Governments during the 26th African Union Summit in January 2016. In recognition of the immense value of home grown school feeding in improving retention and the performance of children in schools. This programme is also dedicated to boosting income-generation and entrepreneurship in the local communities.

In his opening speech, the SA on Home grown school feeding stressed that Cross River State is among the 20 states  that are benefitting from school feedings. He added that ‘the national school feeding programme will not be limited only to schools where students are vulnerable to malnutrition and food shortage, but also will be applicable to all primary schools.

Mrs. Ann Abua one of the vendors of home grown school feedings programme in cross river state thanks the federal government for the initiative, that without it many children may not had known her. So far the programme is well coordinated, many school dropout are returning to schools. The population of pupils is increasing drastically. She added that many children were unable to pay their fees and she uses the opportunity of paying 100 pupils school fees through many persons that partners with her and she is ready to do more.

Remarks were also made by Mrs. Esther Eyo Edem, the head of PCN Akim,  that the federal government who underlined the importance for this historic day and highlighted the multiple benefits that extend beyond the school. ‘It stimulates areas such as agriculture, nutrition, health, and social development. The programme encourages families to consistently send their children to school, reducing child labour, early pregnancy and early marriage.’ He also emphasized that the programme has already been implemented in many African countries and the lessons learned shall be shared to promote effective continental strategies.

 Similarly, the partners of Home grown school feedings pledged support to the School feeding Programme in Cross River State, and to work closely with the SA on home grown school feedings and all stakeholders to achieve the aims of the programme.