No issues with school meals

THERE are no problems with the school feeding programme. This was the word yesterday from officials at the Education Ministry in response to claims by Opposition Senator Khadijah Ameen that meals were not served because of payment owed to caterers for the last term.

One official said this issue was dealt with at a news conference hosted by the ministry last Saturday to deal with a host of issues. A second official explained that the programme is continuing as normal and there has been no disruption in the provision of meals

This was confirmed by an official at the National Schools Dietary Services Ltd (NSDL), which oversees the programme. This official said the programme begins from today and students will be receiving breakfast and lunch.

The official said Education Minister Anthony Garcia said cheques were made available to caterers and payments will be disbursed. The official also explained that checks were made on the kitchens of various caterers to ensure they had suffered no damage as a result of last month’s earthquake.

Under the programme, each school day, over 40,000 breakfasts and almost 100,000 lunches are served to students at 822 pre-primary, primary, secondary and special schools. The meals are provided at no cost to parents or students.