In Colombia, the idea of “going to school on an empty stomach” sounds less acceptable than ever. Between 2022 and 2025, the School Feeding Program, known as PAE, went through a major push in money, coverage, and quality.
The government called it a food revolution in classrooms. Behind the slogan, there were billions of pesos, new kitchens, fewer processed products, and, for the first time, food baskets that followed students even during school breaks.
More money on the table for school meals
Under the “Hambre Cero” strategy, the national government put food for children at the center of its social agenda. The PAE budget rose from US$514 million in previous years to US$658 million between 2022 and 2025.
In real terms, that meant a 28% increase compared with 2020, according to Education Ministry data. The extra money did not stay on paper, it changed what students actually found on their plates.
The program also moved closer to the goal set by Law 2046 of 2020, which requires that at least 30% of the food come from small local producers, linking school meals with rural economies.
From processed products to hot, on‑site meals
With more resources, the PAE could adjust the type of food it offered. The share of industrial products went down 24%, while meals prepared directly in schools went up 21%.
At the same time, hot food delivered ready to eat doubled, an important step in areas where schools still lack full kitchens but students need something more than a cold snack.
In total, the PAE distributed around 350,000 tons of food per year, which required solid logistics and planning so that food arrived on time and in good condition.
Coverage gains and focus on historically excluded territories
Coverage did not stay still either. Between 2021 and 2024, national PAE coverage rose four percentage points, and the growth was even stronger in groups that had been left behind.
Indigenous and NARP communities saw a nine‑point increase, while rural students and those in full‑day schedules gained four points. In full‑day schools, 92% of sites received lunch as a nutritional complement.
In territories with long‑standing gaps, the change was clearer. La Guajira’s investment grew 134%, from US$21 million to US$49 million, and regions such as Orinoquia, Pacific, and Amazonia also received large rises.
Food that did not stop during school breaks
One of the most striking changes came outside the regular school calendar. For the first time, the PAE delivered food baskets during holidays in municipalities with high food insecurity.
Between 2022 and 2025, the program handed out 2,550,347 baskets in 110 municipalities, with an investment of US$67 million. The goal was simple, that students kept access to food even when there were no classes.
This measure helped turn the PAE from a “school days only” initiative into a more constant support, closer to the idea of food as a right and not as a temporary benefit.
New kitchens, dining rooms, and fairer work conditions
The push was not only about food. The government invested US$662 million in educational infrastructure linked to the PAE, equipping 1,400 school sites and building 868 kitchens and dining rooms.
Better spaces made it easier to cook real meals, store food safely, and offer students a more dignified place to sit and eat, instead of improvising in classrooms or corridors.
Another key step was the formalization of more than 56,000 food handlers, mainly women. With this, they gained access to labor rights, social security, and better working conditions.
Recognizing their work was also a way to strengthen the program, since these workers are the ones who make the service possible every day.
A school meal policy that still has homework
By mid‑2025, the PAE looked very different from a few years earlier, with more funding, better food, broader coverage, and stronger rules for culturally appropriate menus, especially in ethnic communities.
From the Unit of Food for Learning, authorities started to design a long‑term public policy so that no child in Colombia has to go hungry in school again, no matter the government in power.
The numbers show big steps, but also leave a reminder, keeping children well fed is not a one‑time achievement. It is a daily job, one that links budgets, kitchens, local farmers, and the simple right to learn with a full stomach.