7,000 more school meals this year

AN additional 7,000 meals are being supplied to schoolchildren this year under the School Nutrition Programme. The programme resumed yesterday for the new school year. An official of the programme said the distribution of breakfast and lunches went smoothly to the 798 schools served under the programme. Students who receive meals, include those at pre-schools, primary, secondary and some special schools, like the School for the Deaf, and Servol. The programme, through its several caterers, will this year provide 95,000 lunches and 32,000 breakfast. The official said more students preferred breakfast over lunch. The figure represents an overall increase of 7,000 meals, with 3,000 more lunches and 4,000 more breakfast. Last year, 92,000 lunches and 28,000 breakfast were provided.

Breakfast includes a sandwich and a drink, at least for this week, while the lunch menu varies. The official assured that the meals are nutritious, well balanced and include foods from all the food groups. The official could not say whether the amount of meals would be increased again during the course of the year, noting that the Ministry of Education would usually inform them of any new schools to be provided with meals through letters. The Ministry of Educa-tion’s communications spec-ialist Mervyn Critchlow assured that the menus for the meals were varied and catered to all religions.

Last year there were complaints about the menus, with reports they did not cater to certain religions. In her “welcome back to school” address to students, parents and teachers two weeks ago, Minister of Education Hazel Manning promised to expand the programme to include 35,000 breakfast and 98,000 lunches during the course of this year. Several students in the more depressed communities de-pend heavily on the meals, and because the programme started yesterday, it would have been the start of the new school term for several students. Some parents are known to keep their children away from school when the meals are not being provided.