Main meal for all children in Grades 1-5 from today

By Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama
The Education Ministry has undertaken measures to offer a main meal at school to every student in Grades 1 through 5, starting today.
The decision was taken into consideration following recommendations from nutritionists.
Minister Susil Premajayantha had given instructions to serve the breakfast between 7.30 a.m. and 8.30 a.m. before the students engage in educational activities.
He said the Ministry has paid more attention to maintaining the food at a high level of nutrition and health. “Under the theme of fostering a healthy and active generation of children, the school meal programme introduced for 2024 targets several objectives.
“These include diminishing nutritional issues among school students, enhancing daily school attendance rates, instilling positive eating and health practices, promoting educational achievement levels, and supporting local food initiatives,” the Minister said.

He also said the programme is expected to fulfil the four basic objectives of building culture.
A total of 1.6 million students are the beneficiaries of this year’s school feeding programme, covering all the students in the primary grades of 9,134 government schools and all schools with less than 100 students.  The government has allocated a budget of Rs. 16,600 million directly to the nine Provincial Councils and in addition, other organizations including the World Food Programme and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), also provide sponsorship.
The food required for this nutrition programme is provided by major local suppliers, and it is also a contribution to strengthening the country’s manufacturing economy through direct and indirect job creation.

The official event of the 2024 school meal programme will begin today (25) at the Sujatha Girls’ College in Narahenpita under the leadership of President Ranil Wickremesinghe and with the participation of the Education Minister.
Concurrently, the inaugural programmes will be held at the provincial level islandwide.
A mechanism to maintain all financial controls related to this school meal programme with transparency and reports is also in place.
The Education Ministry and its Health and Nutrition Branch continuously monitor all its main management and supervision activities, from the formulation of the policy to the related tasks.