At Ecole Patti, Makalondi, Tilaberri Region, in Niger, a new canteen is improving student retention.

Every day, girls must bring water to school. It is used at the canteen for cooking the children’s mid-morning snack and lunch, and also for washing their hands after using the latrine and before eating. They fetch it in groups from a water tower located half a kilometer away.

Parents contribute some of the food used in the canteen and a group of mothers volunteer to do the cooking. Here, one of the mothers prepares a corn, soy and sugar porridge (provided by WFP).

Students get their morning snack at the 10am break.

This means that instead of children waiting at home for breakfast, which is often delayed due to morning chores, they can come to school on time and get a snack at break time.

“In the past we faced a big challenge with the retention of students from nomadic families,” says the school director of Ecole Patti. "But now, thanks to the canteen, this has changed. These days someone from the family will move with the animals and someone else will stay here with the child to allow them to stay in school."

After providing the morning snack, the mothers start preparing the millet for lunch. The canteen provides a free lunch to the students, some of whom come from as far as 5 km away.

“They can't go home to eat lunch and then come back for classes in the afternoon,” the school director explains. “So now that we have the canteen, they come, they get breakfast and lunch and they stay in class through the afternoon.”

The students eat their canteen lunch at noon. Today it is made of rice, millet, beans and oil.

“We only started the canteen at the beginning of this school year, but it has already significantly improved enrollment and retention,” says the school director. “In fact, I can say it is the biggest factor in increasing our enrollment from 123 students last year to 165 this year, and it is also the reason they attend regularly.”