By Balford Henry, News EditorAUDITOR-GENERAL Adrian Strachan says he is concerned about the way in which the traditional school feeding programme is being run.
Mr. Strachan told The Gleaner yesterday that while he was sure that the programme was serving a very useful purpose, there was a need for better organisation.
The Auditor-General was expanding on comments he had made in his annual report (2001/2002) to Parliament, on the need for nutritional standards for the meals distributed to the schools by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, as well as the basis on which the $250 per child per year feeding grant was set.
In his annual report, Mr. Strachan said that the objectives of the traditional school feeding were not sufficiently defined in measurable terms and communicated to the schools.
He said that while it was noted that the schools were operating on the basis that the main aim of the programme was the provision of a nutritious meal to students and improved school attendance, "there was no evidence that the Ministry (of Education) had any formal means of measuring the impact of the programme on the attendance of students. Consequently, it did not appear able to determine whether the Programme was meeting this objective."
He recommended that all the objectives of the programme be defined in measurable terms and communicated to the schools and that a system of measuring the attainment of these objectives should also be implemented.
"There was no indication seen that nutritional standards were established for the meals by the Ministry. This prevented it from determining whether the stated objective of providing a third of the daily nutritional requirements of the students was being met," Mr. Strachan reported. He recommended that nutritional standards consistent with the objectives of the programme should be established for the meals and communicated to the schools. He added that measures should be implemented to monitor and ensure compliance with these standards.
In terms of the allocation of grants and commodities, Mr. Strachan said that the Ministry provided no basis for the establishment of the feeding grant of $250 per child per year, and no documented policy was presented for the allocation of commodities, except rice. "We don't know on what the figure is based. Was it plucked out of the air?" Mr. Strachan asked yesterday.
