Rwanda pilots centralised school meals
A new system prepares food in a central kitchen and delivers it to 266 teachers and 15,014 students across five schools.
The Rwandan government has started a pilot programme for centralised school meals, preparing food in bulk and delivering it to schools, a method similar to systems in Japan and South Korea. The education ministry says the shift is also aimed at reducing reliance on firewood, improving nutrition and lowering the cost of school feeding. The pilot launched on Friday and serves 15,014 students and 266 teachers across five public schools in Rwamagana District.
Meals are cooked at a central kitchen at GS Bujyujyu in Muyumbu Sector and transported to the schools in electric vehicles, so each school no longer has to cook its own food. The facility was inaugurated on Friday, November 13, by Minister of State for Education Claudette Irere, alongside representatives of Solid'Africa, the local social enterprise implementing the project.
The arrangement follows a hub-and-spoke model also used in Japan, where municipal school lunch centres, known as kyushoku centres, prepare meals for several schools. Japan runs this system alongside school-based kitchens as part of a nationwide school feeding programme.
Why it mattersPupils in the five Rwamagana schools will receive meals cooked off-site and delivered by electric vehicle instead of prepared in their own kitchens.