The Food for Education (FFE) component was introduced in 2004 to 98 primary schools to promote enrollment and stabilize school attendance in rural areas with high IDP populations. Shortly after, the project was expanded to 12,000 students in the scholastic year 2006-2007. WFP provided take home rations to all primary school children who attended at least 90 percent of school days. Monitoring reports indicated an upward trend in attendance over the years, reaching its highest peak in 2007 with 99.97 percent as compared to 97 percent in 2005.  
Though food is one of the fundamental elements under the FFE, WFP uses the schools as a platform to add complementary activities that result in a maximum impact on school children. Towards this, WFP’s school projects focused on health services, skill-based health education, and water and sanitation. Significant results were achieved with the introduction of the de-worming campaign in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation (VRF) reducing the prevalence rate of soil-transmitted infections from 31 to 3 percent among primary school children. The government’s commitment to combat helminthes or soil-transmitted infections and expand the programme to other areas will continue to provide long lasting learning and nutritional gains for school children.

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