Meal programme boosts school attendance: Parliamentary Committee

Parliament, May 16 (Daily Mirror)- School attendance has increased after the implementation of the meal programme, a Parliamentary Committee revealed.

It was also disclosed that the criteria have been prepared regarding the quality of the meal and the follow-up regarding the meal programme will be done by the Provincial Department of Education, Regional Educational Services officers and Public Health Inspectors.

The Committee on Ways and Means has revealed that 600,000 school students come to school without breakfast and after the implementation of the meal programme, the attendance of school children has increased.

This was revealed when the Parliamentary Committee on Methods and Procedures met at the Parliament premises under the chairmanship of Patali Champika Ranawaka.

The Committee Chair instructed the Ministry of Education to provide a report on the progress regarding the entire programme.

It was disclosed to the Committee that the meal provided to school children in government schools has increased from eleven hundred thousand to sixteen hundred thousand in 2024 and the Rs. 80 allotted for each child has been increased to Rs. 110.

It was also stated that 16.6 billion rupees are spent on school meals per year, but there is a shortfall of about 4 billion rupees. 

The Chair stated that although Sri Lankans abroad are willing to provide assistance for the programme of providing meals to school children, they are reluctant to provide such assistance directly to the government. 

The Chair therefore instructed to find out whether there is any legal obstacle for providing such assistance to teachers' unions and school development societies. He instructed to prepare a system for receiving complaints based on social media and stated to use a system on WhatsApp, such as regular reporting on the quality of food provided.