World Vision urges lawmakers to make child safety and school meals legal duties

World Vision Kenya has urged lawmakers to strengthen the Basic Education Bill, 2026, by making learner safety, mental health, psychosocial support and school meals explicit obligations within the country’s education system.

In a memorandum presented by Irene Nyauncho, the organisation’s Nutrition Advisor, before the National Assembly Committee on Education, chaired by Julius Melly (Tinderet MP), the organisation argued that access to classrooms alone is insufficient unless children learn in environments that protect their dignity, health and wellbeing.

Nyauncho told the lawmakers that the proposals seek to expand the definition of a safe learning environment to cover physical and digital safety, inclusion, nutrition and psychosocial support, while placing greater responsibility on schools and government agencies to safeguard learners.

World Vision wants the Bill to define a safe and enabling learning environment as one that protects children from “violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation, discrimination, bullying, cyberbullying, corporal punishment, harmful practices and degrading treatment”.

“By including psychosocial wellbeing, positive discipline, child participation, inclusion, nutrition, health, dignity, accessibility, retention and learning,” Nyauncho said.

The organisation said the proposed changes would address emerging threats, including cyberbullying and online exploitation, alongside longstanding concerns over abuse and unsafe school infrastructure.

The memorandum states that the amendments would ensure that “safety, dignity, and wellbeing are integral to the right to education.”

The proposals would require schools to establish confidential reporting mechanisms through which learners could report abuse and seek assistance without fear of retaliation.

The memorandum recommends that institutions “establish confidential, child-friendly mechanisms for reporting and addressing incidents of violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation or harmful practices”.

Nyauncho added, ''Schools should also provide psychosocial support services to learners, including counselling and referral to appropriate child protection agencies”.

World Vision further advocates digital safety education, inclusive infrastructure for learners with disabilities and positive discipline approaches that preserve children's dignity.

The proposals seek to make child protection a continuing institutional responsibility rather than a response triggered only after an incident occurs.

Nutrition is another central pillar of the submission, with World Vision arguing that hunger and poor health can undermine attendance, retention and educational performance.

It proposes that schools “implement school meals and nutrition-sensitive interventions to support learner health, retention and educational outcomes.”

According to World Vision, ''Under proposed amendments to Clause 42, we want the government to establish and finance safe and enabling learning environments, including school meals, safeguarding systems, psychosocial services, safe water, sanitation and inclusive infrastructure.''

The memorandum also calls for ministries, government agencies and county governments to budget for and coordinate interventions supporting learner safety and school completion.

To ensure implementation, World Vision recommends regular monitoring, reporting and compliance mechanisms, alongside clearer responsibilities for school leaders, boards of management and education authorities.

The proposals invoke constitutional protections and international child-rights frameworks, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, to support stronger safeguards.

Lawmakers now face the task of considering whether to incorporate the proposed measures into the Bill, potentially broadening the legal responsibilities of schools and government agencies beyond access to education to include the conditions children need to learn safely and effectively.

The Basic Education Bill, 2026 aligns Kenya's legal framework and now repeals and replaces the Basic Education Act of 2013 to align Kenya’s school system with the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) by enforcing free and compulsory schooling, introducing strict financial penalties including prison time for illegal public-school fees, protecting vulnerable learners, and digitizing student data tracking.