News
Some suppliers yet to be paid for school meals
View(s):By Senuka Jayakody
Efforts to provide mid-day meals to schoolchildren are continuing with funding from the World Bank and with the involvement of United Nations organisations.
Slightly more than 1 million schoolchildren are provided with mid-day meals compared with a schoolchildren population exceeding 4 million. There are concerns that meals in some schools may not be nutritious enough because the Government allocates just Rs 87, an inadequate amount for a meal.
Education Minister Susil Premajayantha told Parliament, in response to a question from JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake in late April, that there are problems about payments to providers of meals in some regions, especially the Southern Province where payment had not been made since February.
He said Rs 16.6bn had been allocated to Provincial Councils in the 2023 budget and that Rs 2.28bn was allocated to the south.
World Bank funds had helped to settle arrears in 2022 as well, he said.
The Provincial Councils have been paid Rs. 787.4 million for January and Rs 61.6 million for February 2023, he said. With World Bank funds, Rs. 875.06 million was to be paid to nine provinces to settle overdue payments of February and March.
The Central Bank annual report for 2022 mentions school meal programmes among measures taken “to continue’’ providing balanced meals to schoolchildren to ensure food security for households.
USAID, the United Nations World Food Programme, UNICEF, and Save the Children make the mid-day meals possible. The WFP also provides technical assistance. The WFP provided 1,500 metric tonnes of rice for 1.05mn children in 7,912 schools in 2022.
The Ministry of Education told the Sunday Times that payments for March had been made to the Provincial Councils, including the Southern Province.
The ministry had asked the Treasury to release funds for April as well. Kadawatha Mahabodhi College Principal and Principals Service Union leader D. M. S. Premathilake said payments had been made.
Southern Province and the North-Central Province schools have not received payments for meals. They say Rs 85 is not enough for a nutritious meal.
“We have to provide two eggs. An egg itself costs Rs. 55 or Rs. 60 now. Coconuts and rice are also expensive,’’ Mr Premathilake said.
Dalupitiya Primary school Principal Naveendra Suranjith said Kelaniya educational zone schools did not have payments issues now. “The payment might be inadequate, but the parents are providing a full meal.’’ However, Priyantha Fernando, a teacher in Anuradhapura and the head of the Ceylon Teachers Association, said payments have not been made for two to three months. Parents who prepare meals have stopped supplying.
When schools had asked for payments from the Provincial treasury, the answer was that the Central Government had not provided funds.
“Only 23% of students receive the mid-day meal and even for them it is not given properly,’’ Mr. Fernando said. Not much can be provided for Rs 85. According to a recent Government survey, 28% of children in Anuradhapura suffer from malnutrition. Mr Fernando expects this to worsen with the end of the Maha growing season. “If this continues, students of families who can only afford one meal and send their children to school for the meal will drop out.’’ All Island Teachers Union leader Ven. Yalawela Panyasekara Thero said the issue had been resolved in most schools. But, some schools in the Southern Province have not received payments.
“Some are continuing the programme through personal spending, while in other schools, the programme has stopped entirely,’’ Ven. Panyasekara Thero said.
He is concerned that based on the amount allocated, nutritious meals can’t be provided.
The Embilipitiya Siri Sangabo Vidyalaya in the Sabaragamuwa Province said payments for March had been made.
Payments had resumed for Kalpitiya.
In Hambantota, some schools have still not received payments. Meals are being provided by teachers and parents, with no guarantee of the nutritional value.
Some national schools, although not a part of the mid-day meal programme, are providing meals through other means.
St. Joseph’s College in Anuradhapura, which has 1,500 students below the age of 12 years, has designated a place in the canteen for packed meals that teachers bring. Poor students can pick a packed lunch during the interval.
At a school in Bulathsinhala teachers bring a packed meal and place it in a box in the mornings. Every day, 25 to 30 packets are collected.
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