An NGO funded school feeding program for children under eight years old has seen increased number of children enrolled in schools in Yei town, education officials said.

In Yei town, there are seven nursery schools with more than 1,700 children under eight years old benefiting from the feeding program which is funded by Alpha-Light, a US-based organization working on educational literacy programs.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, the organization’s program manager, Aligo Morris said the four-month feeding program aimed at fighting illiteracy and encouraging healthy growth among children.

Aligo further said since the outbreak of fighting in Yei River state in July 2016, many parents could not provide nutritious meals to their children due to inflation and insecurity.

“There are seven nursery schools and a total of 1,700 children are benefiting from the porridge program. We are also looking at the health status of the children so that they can learn with high moral. Also, we need to relieve the parents from not being able to provide nutritious meals to the children,” he said.

For his part, the Director General of Education in Yei River State, Amule Felix, said their statistics in primary schools showed increased number of children going to school after the introduction of feeding program and distribution of scholastic materials to the education sector.

Amule called on education partners to support the conflict-affected people in Yei in order to improve the education sector.

“This feeding and intervention programs are attracting children to go to schools and attend classes regularly and even improve their health. We have realized that one of the reasons why children do not want to attend classes it is because they experience a lot of hunger stopping them from learning,” said Amule.

Photo: Pupils of St. Peter’s Primary School during their porridge break in Yei. (Radio Tamazuj)