The Ministry of Education and Sports is set to introduce a new policy mandating government schools to feed their learners, marking a significant shift in Uganda’s education strategy. This change, announced by Education Minister Ms. Janet Kataha Museveni at State House Nakasero, Kampala, comes as part of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) manifesto progress report. The feeding initiative, slated to begin in the 2025/2026 financial year, will initially target primary schools under the Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme, which serves 9.2 million learners across 12,551 schools.
For decades, the government maintained that parents should handle the responsibility of feeding their children while it focused on covering school fees under universal education programmes. However, this approach has faced criticism, with many parents unable to provide packed meals due to financial hardships. Reports revealed that some children went hungry, depended on friends for food, or engaged in theft. Additionally, the quality and safety of packed meals often posed health risks, including contamination and food poisoning.
Recognizing these challenges, the ministry aims to standardize school feeding to ensure equity among learners. According to sources within the ministry, the new policy will eliminate disparities where some children admire their peers' better meals, instead guaranteeing that every learner receives a hot, nutritious meal. To support this shift, the ministry has developed feeding guidelines and is digitizing school feeding information to streamline implementation.
Although the draft policy is ready, consultations are still underway to finalize key details. Critical decisions include determining the cost of food per learner, the types of meals to be provided, and whether students will receive one or two meals daily. Some officials propose that schools procure locally available foods based on regional agricultural outputs. For example, schools in western Uganda might incorporate milk and eggs into their menus. This approach, sources suggest, could drive up local production over time, as schools create a steady demand for regional produce.
The government’s decision to take on the feeding responsibility aims to create an equitable learning environment where students can focus on their studies without worrying about hunger. By 2026, the Ministry of Education hopes to have fully implemented the policy, beginning with primary schools, and gradually expanding it nationwide.
Ms. Museveni also outlined her ministry's accomplishments under the NRM manifesto. She announced that rehabilitation of 120 traditional schools, including St. Henry’s Kitovu, Gayaza High School, and St. Peter’s College, will commence next year, funded by the World Bank’s Global Partnership for Education. Plans are also underway to build more secondary schools, ensuring each subcounty has at least one. So far, 114 of the planned 258 schools have been completed, with the remaining 144 scheduled for completion by June 2025. Additionally, construction of 116 new schools under the Uganda Secondary Expansion Project is set to begin soon. While these initiatives, including the school feeding programme, aim to remove educational barriers, questions about their sustainability persist amidst competing sector priorities.
