Amman – With the launch of Jordan’s National School Feeding Strategy for 2026–2030, questions are emerging over how the strategy will support students’ health, improve learning outcomes, contribute to a healthier school environment, sustain school feeding programs and expand their reach across schools in the Kingdom.
Education experts say the strategy’s importance lies in treating food as part of the educational environment rather than simply as a meal consumed during the school day. Investment in school nutrition, they said, improves students’ health and creates more favorable conditions for learning.
Speaking separately to Al-Ghad, they noted that improving students’ nutritional status supports concentration, attention and regular school attendance. They stressed the importance of integrating school feeding programs with efforts to improve education quality and equal access to educational opportunities, particularly for students in underserved areas.
This means school feeding is an important supporting component of education quality, given its role in improving students’ health and readiness to learn.
Expanding the Healthy Meals Model
Ahmad Al-Masaafeh, Director of the Education Administration at the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, said the strategy is based on four pillars: governance, expanding the healthy meals model, building partnerships and sustainability.
The ministry is working to translate these pillars into action, he said, explaining that governance aims to establish a sustainable legal and institutional framework for the program and strengthen coordination among partners through a governance structure that includes a steering committee and specialized technical committees.
Al-Masaafeh said expanding the healthy meals model would be achieved by broadening the program according to scientific standards that ensure fair and effective targeting, based on a clear implementation plan.
Building partnerships, meanwhile, aims to strengthen support for the school feeding program through effective cooperation involving government institutions, local communities and the private sector.
Sustainability is based on achieving full national ownership of the program, with the World Food Programme serving as a partner and supporter, he said.
Al-Masaafeh noted that the strategy seeks to increase the number of beneficiaries in the coming years. The program currently serves around half a million students and covers approximately 2,400 schools.
Food and the Educational Environment
Education expert Faisal Tayeh said the importance of the strategy lies in viewing food as a factor connected to the educational environment, rather than merely a meal students consume during the school day.
Providing balanced food suited to students’ age-specific needs supports concentration, attention and classroom participation, while hunger, malnutrition and reliance on foods with low nutritional value may be associated with reduced activity and readiness to learn, he said.
Tayeh added that attention to school nutrition combines health and educational considerations and requires examining its impact on students’ health and learning conditions.
He said ensuring equal access to healthy food is a key aspect of the strategy so that students’ access to nutritious meals is not affected by their families’ economic circumstances or the location of their schools.
This requires taking differences between regions and schools into account, identifying the groups most in need and directing interventions based on clear data to ensure support reaches those who need it most, he said.
The educational aspect is no less important than the health component, Tayeh noted. School feeding should help build nutritional awareness and establish healthy habits among students through classroom activities, initiatives and education on how to read food labels, understand food ingredients and distinguish healthy choices from others.
He added that students’ participation in such activities and their understanding of the reasons behind health guidance can strengthen their ability to make informed food choices both inside and outside school.
Tayeh stressed that implementing the strategy requires coordination among the Ministries of Education and Health and the authorities responsible for food safety, as well as families and local communities.
The Ministry of Education’s role involves organizing the school environment and monitoring compliance with standards, while health authorities contribute by identifying nutritional and health requirements and monitoring food safety. Families, meanwhile, play a role in supporting healthy eating habits at home.
He stressed the importance of clearly defining roles and integrating the efforts of all relevant parties, rather than placing responsibility for school nutrition on a single institution.
Evaluating the strategy’s results should not be limited to the number of schools implementing the program, he said, but should also include monitoring changes in food quality, students’ nutritional awareness and relevant health indicators.
He explained that monitoring could include examining the relationship between nutritional interventions and school attendance, concentration, classroom participation and academic achievement, while recognizing that nutrition is only one factor affecting education alongside the school environment, family circumstances and teaching methods.
Tayeh added that sustaining implementation of the strategy requires financial resources, training for school canteen and school staff, clear monitoring and oversight mechanisms, regular reviews of results and adjustments based on actual needs.
Supporting Student Health
Education expert Mohammad Abu Amara said launching the strategy is a step toward enhancing the school’s role in supporting students’ health and creating favorable conditions for learning.
The strategy links school nutrition to students’ health and readiness to learn while strengthening its role in supporting the educational environment and improving learning opportunities, he said.
Providing healthy meals can enhance students’ nutritional awareness, support their physical and psychological health and help prepare them for learning. Their food choices may be influenced by their preferences and awareness of the importance of a balanced diet, making schools an important partner in establishing healthy eating habits.
Abu Amara said balanced meals should take students’ nutritional needs into account and include items such as pastries, fruit, cucumbers and date cakes, providing their bodies with essential nutrients.
This is particularly important because some families face economic difficulties that limit their ability to regularly provide healthy meals for their children, he added.
The importance of the strategy is even greater in remote and underserved areas, where providing meals can help students meet their nutritional needs, ease the burden on their families and promote equal opportunities regardless of economic and social circumstances.
Abu Amara said school feeding could help reduce health problems such as overweight and obesity when combined with nutritional awareness and encouragement of physical activity.
Establishing healthy eating habits requires coordinated efforts between schools and families rather than simply providing a meal, he stressed.
He noted that hunger can affect students’ ability to concentrate and their readiness to learn, particularly as the school day in some schools can last between four and eight hours.
Providing a healthy meal can help students participate in classroom and educational activities and improve their opportunities to acquire knowledge and skills, he said.
However, Abu Amara stressed that while school nutrition is important, it is not an independent factor in improving academic achievement. It works alongside teaching quality, a safe school environment, psychological and social support and effective assessment methods.
He added that the strategy is consistent with broader education development efforts, including strengthening the educational role of school principals, training teachers, developing curricula and improving the school environment.
Regarding nutritional awareness, he said providing healthy meals can increase students’ and parents’ understanding of the components and importance of a balanced diet and help students make food choices appropriate to their needs.
Abu Amara stressed the school’s role in turning information about healthy nutrition into daily practices by providing appropriate choices in school canteens, encouraging students to eat vegetables and fruit and drink water, organizing awareness activities and initiatives, and involving parents in promoting healthy eating habits at home.
He said discussions with fellow educators working in villages that benefit from the meals indicated that the program had encouraged some students to attend school, particularly amid the economic difficulties facing their families.
These observations, he said, call for monitoring school dropout rates before and after the program to determine the extent to which school feeding contributes to reducing the phenomenon.
Abu Amara also noted that the strategy’s reliance on meals produced entirely in Jordan adds an economic and social dimension to its health and educational objectives.
It could support the local market and production kitchens, encourage small and medium-sized enterprises and strengthen reliance on local products, while maintaining food quality and safety standards and creating economic opportunities for local communities.
He stressed that assessing the strategy’s impact requires continuous monitoring and studies measuring its health, nutritional, educational and social outcomes rather than simply counting the meals provided.
Such assessments would help determine whether the strategy is achieving its stated objectives and identify areas requiring further development.
Abu Amara said indicators that could be monitored include students’ nutritional status, malnutrition and overweight, while protecting their privacy, as well as changes in eating behavior, attendance, absenteeism and school dropout rates, academic concentration, and students’ and parents’ satisfaction with the meals provided.
Preparing Students to Learn
Education expert Ayish Al-Nawaisa said school nutrition is closely linked to preparing students for learning, particularly in remote and underserved areas.
Deficiencies in certain vitamins and nutrients can affect concentration, attention, comprehension and participation in activities, he said.
He noted that the Ministry of Education has long provided nutritional components that support students’ physical and mental development, strengthening their ability to learn and benefit from education.
Al-Nawaisa said the strategy aims to improve the nutritional and health status of students in underserved areas by providing balanced nutrients and addressing deficiencies in vitamins and essential elements, helping reduce health factors that may hinder their learning.
Investment in school nutrition improves students’ health and physical development and creates more favorable conditions for learning, he said.
Improving nutritional status supports concentration, attention and regular classroom participation while enhancing the acquisition of knowledge and skills.
He stressed that the strategy’s primary goal is to build well-rounded students in terms of physical, psychological, social, cognitive and educational development, supporting their growth, strengthening learning opportunities and helping achieve better educational outcomes.
Minister of Education and Human Resources Development Dr. Azmi Mahafzah recently sponsored the launch ceremony for the strategy in the presence of local and international partners and representatives of ministries and national institutions.
In his remarks, Mahafzah said the strategy is the result of continued cooperation and an effective partnership between the ministry, the World Food Programme and relevant stakeholders.
He said it represents a roadmap aimed at building a healthy, resilient and determined generation capable of learning, achieving and actively contributing to the country’s future.
Antonella D’Aprile, WFP Representative and Country Director in Jordan, said the WFP’s experience in Jordan over recent years has shown that when school feeding programs are well designed and effectively implemented, they improve educational outcomes, strengthen social protection and increase investment in the country’s most important asset: its children.
Source: Al-Ghad
