Kenya's Schools to Plant 2,000 Fruit Trees Each for Mazingira Day
Kenya's Education Ministry orders every primary school to plant 2,000 fruit trees on Mazingira Day 2025, boosting nutrition and helping meet the 30% forest cover goal.
When talking about school nutrition, the set of meals and nutrition standards provided to learners in primary and secondary schools across the continent, also known as educational feeding, it’s clear this topic sits at the crossroads of health, education and economics.
One key pillar is the midday meal programme, government‑run or NGO‑supported initiatives that deliver balanced lunches to students, often called school feeding. These programmes boost attendance and help tackle child hunger. Another driver is food security, the reliable access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food for all people, which directly influences how schools source ingredients and plan menus. At the same time, student health, the physical and mental wellbeing of learners, acts both as a goal and a metric for nutrition programmes – healthier kids learn better and stay in school longer. Finally, effective nutrition policy, the set of regulations and guidelines that govern food standards in schools, ties everything together by setting calorie limits, micronutrient requirements and monitoring mechanisms.
School nutrition encompasses midday meals, government policy and community involvement, creating a web where each part influences the other. For instance, stronger nutrition policy requires reliable food security to ensure meals meet standards, while improved student health feeds back into policy revisions based on real‑world outcomes. Recent debates in Kenya’s NYOTA programme, Nigeria’s NELFUND student loan tweaks, and Ghana’s budget allocations all illustrate how funding shifts affect feeding schemes, showing that economics and education are inseparable. Across the continent, you’ll see stories about budget boosts for school meals, challenges in supply chains, and pilots using local produce to enhance diet quality – all pointing to a dynamic landscape where every stakeholder plays a role.
Below you’ll find a curated collection of recent articles covering everything from policy changes and funding announcements to on‑the‑ground success stories in school nutrition. Dive in to see how African nations are tackling hunger on campus, what innovative approaches are emerging, and which challenges remain on the road to healthier, better‑educated children.
Kenya's Education Ministry orders every primary school to plant 2,000 fruit trees on Mazingira Day 2025, boosting nutrition and helping meet the 30% forest cover goal.