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Increase in primary students’ attendance after mid-day meal programme

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It has been revealed in the Parliamentary Committee on Ways and Means, the number of students attending in primary schools and schools with less than 100 students across the country has increased with the implementation of mid-day meal programme by the government.

It has also been revealed in the Committee that nearly 600,000 school students have come to schools without breakfast during the recent years and

school attendance of children has increased after the implementation of this mid-day meal programme.

Accordingly, Committee Chairman MP Patali Champika Ranawaka instructed Education Ministry officials to find out whether there has been an increase in the attendance of students in primary schools and schools with less than 100 students and submit a report to the Committee in this regard and also other report on the number of students who are given meals to the Committee.

Committee Chairman Ranawaka has instructed the Education Ministry to give a report on the overall progress of this programme.

The Parliamentary Committee on Ways and Means under the Chairmanship of MP Patali Champika Ranawaka met at the Parliament Complex recently.

It was revealed that the provision of food for children in primary classes of government schools has increased from 1.1 million to 1.6 million in 2024. Accordingly, the amount allotted for one child for one portion of a meal has been increased from Rs.80 to Rs.110.

It was also revealed in the Committee that criteria have been prepared regarding the quality of the meal and the follow-up related to this programme should be done by the Provincial Education departments, Zonal Education divisions and Public Health Inspectors.

It was also stated that Rs.16.6 billion is spent per year for the meals provided to schoolchildren, but there is a shortfall of another Rs.4 billion. Although Sri Lankans living abroad are very willing to provide assistance for the programme, they are not willing to provide this assistance directly to the government.

Therefore, he advised to find out whether there is any legal obstacle for providing such assistance to parents-teachers’ unions and school development societies. The Chairman advised to prepare a system to receive complaints on this program through social media and formulate a system for regular reporting on the quality of the meal provided to school children through WhatsApp.

The post Increase in primary students’ attendance after mid-day meal programme appeared first on DailyNews.

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