THE MINISTRY of Education, Youth and Culture will be providing lunches for 370,000 students under the School Feeding Programme this school year.
Of the total, 195,000 students will benefit under the 'nutri' bun programme, while an additional 175,000 students would be fed under the traditional cooked lunch programme.
Director of the School Feeding Programme (SFP) in the Ministry, Helene Robertson, says that the schools began to receive 'nutri' bun snacks as of Monday.
She informed that cheques were issued to the schools in August for the purchase of supplies for the cooked lunches. She noted that supplies were distributed from two main stores, Central Food Organisation in Kingston and the Grey Ground Food Store in Manchester.
"Schools which usually come in to collect food have begun to do so, and the trucks, which supply other schools, began rolling last Monday," she said.
Mrs. Robertson told JIS News that the School Feeding Programme would be expanded to one new primary school in St. Catherine this month and to basic schools throughout the country later this year.
"We are looking at putting something in place for Angel's Primary School as soon as they are up and running. We will also provide food stuff for 86,000 beneficiaries in basic schools in a little while," she stated.
She said the programme would not be extended into the traditional high schools and technical high schools just yet.
"The School Feeding Programme is mainly a primary school initiative so we really concentrate on that area and the new high schools. We really are not yet able to do anything in high and technical high schools," she said, but noted that the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), through the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), was funding a review of the programme.
Mrs. Robertson called on the schools to ensure that they received their supplies.
"For the principals who are on the traditional programme, who have not yet come in to us to collect their vouchers and their food stuff, please do so. We want to ensure that you are able to prepare meals and for those who get it on the trucks, please look out for the trucks," she advised.
Last year, the Government spent a total of $461,791 million, so that 456,000 children attending the country's basic, primary, all-age and junior high schools could have at least one meal every day for the entire school year.
Of the sum, $203,061 million has been allocated to Nutrition Products to produce and distribute 'nutri' bun and milk, while $258,730 was used to provide schools with commodities and grants to prepare cooked lunches. During the last academic year, 451,000 children were fed under the programme.
