Govt to spend Rs 3,000 m on school midday meal

Dharma Sri Abeyratne

The government allocated Rs 3,000 million to provide the school midday meal for 2013, Education Minister Bandula Gunawardana said.

“A balanced meal is provided by the government aimed at improving the health nutrition state of schoolchildren. The midday meal will be provided to 1,014,901 schoolchildren from grade one to five in 7,625 schools countrywide. The official ceremony to mark the free distribution of the midday meal this year will be held at Makumaiyambal Vidyalaya, Trincomalee on January 18 under the patronage of the Education Minister,” he said.

The programme to provide a daily meal to schoolchildren commenced in 2010 under the guidance of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Ampara, Vanni, Puttalam and Hambantota districts, where the percentage of malnutrition was high, were included in the first phase. The programme now covers the entire country. The number of schools entitled to the scheme has been increased to 7,625 . The meal will be prepared under the supervision of Education and Health Ministry officials.