COLOMBO: The Ministry of Education has taken steps to provide a main meal at school to all school children in grades 1-5 from Monday (25).
The Minister of Education Dr. Susil Premajayantha has given instructions to provide this breakfast between 7.30 am and 8.30 am before the students engage in main educational activities, taking into consideration the recommendations of the nutritionists.
Under the theme of a healthy and active generation of children, the school meal program implemented for the year 2024 aims to reduce nutritional problems among school students, increase students’ daily school attendance, develop good eating habits and health habits, contribute to the growth of educational achievement levels and local food. It is expected to fulfill the four basic objectives of building culture.
1.6 million students are the beneficiaries of this year’s school feeding program, covering all the students in the primary grades of 9134 government schools and all schools with less than 100 students.
For this purpose, the government has allocated a budget of 16,600 million rupees directly to the nine provincial councils, and in addition, other organizations including the World Food Program and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) also provide sponsorship.
Through the direct intervention of the Minister of Education Susil Premajayantha, the government provides Rs. 85/-, relative to the rise in prevailing market prices, Rs. 110/- has been increased.
The food required for this nutrition program is provided by major local suppliers and it is also a contribution to strengthening the country’s manufacturing economy through direct and indirect new job creation.
Under the leadership of President Ranil Ranil Wickramasinghe and with the participation of Education Minister Dr. Susil Premajayantha, the 2024 school meal program will begin tomorrow (25) at the Sujatha Girls’ College in Narahenpita and concurrently, the inaugural programs will be held at the provincial level all over the island.
A mechanism to maintain all financial controls related to this school meal program with transparency and reports is also in place. The Ministry of Education is the Ministry of Education which continuously monitors all its main management and supervision activities from the formulation of the policy and the related tasks are assigned to the Ministry’s Health and Nutrition Branch.
