The cabinet has approved increasing the amount given for a day’s meal to 110 rupees for primary sector school students. Sri Lanka Latest News
According to that, so far an amount of 85 rupees has been allocated for that meal, Cabinet Spokesman, Minister in Charge, Dr. Bandula Gunawardena said.
The minister mentioned this at the press conference to announce the Cabinet decision held yesterday (05) at the Government Information Department.
Accordingly, the proposal presented by the Minister of Education, Mr. Susil Premajayantha, to increase the amount spent per student to 110/- rupees for one meal and to implement the “School Meal Program” for 170 days in the year 2024 for students in the primary sector. The Minister, Dr. Bandula Gunawardena said that the approval was received. The minister also said that approval was given for the immediate implementation of the school meal program for the students from 01st grade to 05th grade in government schools. Covering a total of 1.08 million school students, the “School Meal Program” is implemented in 7,902 schools belonging to the 100 education zones of the island, and an amount of 85 rupees was allocated for a meal per day for one student. The official committee appointed to study this matter has reported that according to the price fluctuation of the goods and services in the market, one meal costs at least 110 rupees.
Also, on behalf of the “School Meal Program”, Save the Children has agreed to provide 03 types of food items to 200,000 students in 917 selected schools for the year 2024.
