11 Nov 2015, 06:20 am Print
“When a nutritious hot meal is available at school, attendance rates increase significantly. School meals provide food security for children, keeping them in school and enabling them to concentrate on their studies,” Elisabeth Faure, WFP Country Director in Guinea, said in a statement released today.
As schools reopen across Guinea this week, WFP confirmed the resumption of its meals programme in all four regions of the country and also noted that the agency, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and partners, will provide daily hot meals to children in the most food-insecure areas of the country, where poverty and malnutrition rates are the highest.
Public schools in Guinea remained closed after the 2014 summer holidays due to the Ebola outbreak.
In Guinea, high repetition and dropout rates remain serious concerns, particularly among adolescent girls.
WFP indicated that it would provide take-home rations to girls who attend school regularly.
“WFP’s take-home rations encourage parents to send their daughters to school. When girls are educated, they are more likely to have fewer and healthier children, breaking the cycle of hunger and malnutrition,” explained Ms. Faure.
Photo: WFP/Sanoussy Barry
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