The World Food Programme (WFP) said that in Afghanistan 15 million people – or one third of the population – do not know where their next meal will come from.

Harald Mannhardt, Deputy Country Director of WFP Afghanistan, said that many children in Afghanistan come to school without breakfast.

”Many children in Afghanistan come to school without breakfast and WFP’s school feeding programme provides their first meal of the day. School feeding is an important part of our activities in the country, where 15 million people – or one third of the population – do not know where their next meal will come from,” Mannhardt added.

Meanwhile, the EU in a statement announced that “the European Union is allocating an additional EUR 9.9 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to support nearly 2 million primary school students in Nangarhar, Nuristan, Ghor, Farah, and Jawzjan provinces over two years.”

The statement quoted Raffaella Iodice, the EU Chargée d’Affaires a.i. to Afghanistan saying: “Learning with an empty stomach is hard. The school feeding programme in Afghanistan helps increase enrollment, attendance, and retention in primary school, for boys and girls. School feeding improves learning abilities and the well-being of the children who are the next generation of Afghanistan."

According to the EU statement, this money will be spent to support nearly 2 million primary school students in Nangarhar, Nuristan, Ghor, Farah, and Jawzjan provinces over two years.

"This aid should be given to their families on a regular basis so that they can take care of the nutrition, food, and clothing of the students in a regular and very basic manner,” said Shaker Yaqoobi, an economist.

"They should make more concrete efforts and positive changes as much as possible in the dialogue with the Afghan government in terms of creating educational opportunities and decreasing the level of restrictions,” said Bahram Ramish, another economist.

This comes as earlier some international organizations expressed their concerns about the situation of children, especially elementary school students, and requested more aid for their support.