**4. Discussion**

### *4.1. Diversity of Foods Provided*

The low diversity of food items in the schools categories other than private schools may be a result of limited governmen<sup>t</sup> funding in public schools, while the more diverse foods in private school menus might be influenced by the purchasing power of the parents, who pay higher school fees. A study by Zuilkowski et al. [13] on primary schools in Nairobi showed that low-cost private schools (LCPS) spent an average of Ksh 1962 per annum on school meals, while public schools spent almost half of this. This can be extrapolated to secondary schools, which are guided by the same document, i.e., the National School Meals and Nutrition Strategy 2017–2022 [14]. Furthermore, studies show that parents with students in private schools are more likely to pay more money to ensure that their children are well-fed [13]. This may be the reason for the increased diversity of school meals in private schools. Additionally, private schools have been shown to have better autonomy to make decisions regarding the foods that should appear in school menus compared to public schools [9].Private schools alsoserved the lowest amount of starchy staples such as ugali and githeri. Their main source of carbohydrates is rice. This could be explained by the high amount of energy required to cook maize and beans, making it expensive, hence their preference to cook rice.
