MoBSE, partners host school feeding forum to drive universal access

By Aminata Kuyateh

The Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, in partnership with the Catholic Relief Services and the United States Department of Agriculture on Wednesday hosted the National School Feeding forum at the SDKJIC.

The forum is envisaged at showcasing the impact of school feeding on child health, nutrition and literacy outcomes while advancing plans toward universal access.

The programme, currently implemented in 186 schools through CRS support and expanded nationally across 823 public Early Childhood Development and Lower Basic schools, brought together government officials, development partners, UN agencies, civil society, local structures and communities to assess progress, address challenges and strengthen commitments to a sustainable national school feeding system.

Vice President Muhammed BS Jallow said school feeding continues to produce measurable gains in education, revealing that enrolment between 2021 and 2025 increased by 17.2 percent in Early Childhood Development, 10.4 percent in Lower Basic Schools and 14.8 percent nationwide.

“This confirms a simple but powerful truth: a well-nourished child learns better, stays in school longer, and performs more effectively,” he said.

VP Jallow disclosed that government funding for school feeding has risen from D30 million in 2019 to D250 million in 2025/2026, an eightfold increase, reflecting what he described as strong political commitment to child welfare, education and long-term national development.

He said the programme now reaches 301,669 learners, representing about 87 percent of children in public schools, while 66 percent of all eligible public Early Childhood Development and Lower Basic schools are covered nationwide.

Despite these gains, vice president warned that “thousands of children, particularly in underserved and remote communities, still attend school on empty stomachs,” adding that many private schools and madrassas remain excluded.

He stressed that achieving universal school feeding coverage by 2030 would require broader partnerships, noting that “public resources alone will not be sufficient.”

Minister of Basic and Secondary Education Dr Habibatou Drammeh said school feeding in The Gambia has evolved from a donor-supported intervention in the 1970s into a nationally owned programme central to the country’s education system.

She said programmes such as McGovern-Dole and the Gambia Agriculture and Food Security Project have helped shape a home-grown school feeding model that links education to agriculture, empowers smallholder farmers and strengthens community ownership, particularly among women and youth.

She reaffirmed government’s goal of ensuring every child in basic and secondary education has access to safe, nutritious and regular school meals, while urging stakeholders to transform the forum into “a platform for concrete commitment, innovation, collaboration, and sustained action.”

Dr Amulai Touray, Country Manager of Catholic Relief Services, praised government collaboration, describing its partnership with MoBSE as “exceptional” and “unparalleled by any global standards.”

He said CRS’s USDA-supported Dindingo project, meaning “My Child’s Education is My Priority,” has served “more than 17.7 million meals” to over 63,000 children in 186 schools, surpassing its original 52,000 target, while over 423,000 indirect beneficiaries including families, farmers, cooks and traders have also benefited.

Dr Touray said no Gambian child should “face a day on an empty stomach,” adding that the programme has strengthened school attendance, cognitive development, food security and local agricultural production, while women-led savings groups have generated over $81,000.

He, however, stressed that school feeding must move “from project to a national program,” warning that “this forum must not end with discussions alone.”

USDA representative Erik Syngle said the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program is investing more than $28 million over five years in The Gambia to support school feeding and education.Syngle said the programme’s long-term strategy is rooted in local ownership, accountability, and resilience, enabling Gambian children to “learn, grow, and thrive” through systems that endure beyond external support.