The Enugu Universal Basic Education Board (ENSUBEB) said on Monday in Enugu that it would start a School Feeding Programme in public primary schools in the state in 2016.

The Chairperson of the board, Ms Nneka Onuorah, said that the programme would begin with a pilot scheme with selected public schools.

Onuorah said that mothers of the pupils and their communities would be involved in the programme.


``Unlike in the past where the government used vendors to provide meals to children, this school feeding programme is more unique in that the community 
is fully involved.

``It involves the mothers; the mothers will divide themselves into teams of two or three.

``So each week, at least say team A group of mothers will cook for the children and feed the children and they will rotate.

``So the following week, team B group of mothers will now cook for the children.

``Now we find this model to be the most sustainable and we hope that we can branch it out to other schools in other communities and local governments.

``Now, if we do start, we won’t start with every school because of cost.

``We will start small, maybe we will choose one to two schools per local government; and it is always better to start small with this kind of programme.’’

 Onuorah, who said that the state government would include the programme in the 2016 budget, appealed to the Federal Government, to support it.

She said that the board had sponsored a project aimed at de-worming pupils in primary school between June and Nov. 2015.

According to her, nearly 300,000 children benefited.

She said that the children also underwent ear, eye, and nose screening during the exercise, adding that the programme was to promote healthy growth among the children and lay a better foundation for learning.

Onuorah said that the board had organised series of training and re-training for teachers to enable them to manage schools effectively.