State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Bobby Hajjaj has said the “school meal” programme will be expanded in phases to all government primary schools across the country, ensuring nutritious food for every primary pupil.
The state minister made the remarks on Sunday when Koko Ushiyama, country director and resident representative of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Bangladesh, paid a courtesy call at the state minister’s office at the Secretariat.
The meeting discussed the expansion of the school meal programme in government primary schools, ensuring nutritious food, the possibility of introducing cooked hot meals on a pilot basis in future, effective monitoring of the programme and strengthening digital management, among other issues.
The state minister said: “The government’s main goal is to ensure the nutrition of every primary pupil. Transparency, accountability and a technology-based monitoring system are very important for the successful implementation of the school meal programme.”
The discussion touched on the experience of neighbouring India’s school meal programme and its similarities with Bangladesh’s social and cultural realities. The state minister also stressed adopting separate, needs-based plans, taking into account the country’s urban and rural areas, geographical diversity and differences in socio-economic conditions.
At the meeting, WFP Country Director Koko Ushiyama said school meals not only ensured pupils’ nutrition but also played an important role in increasing school attendance, preventing dropout, improving the quality of education and building healthy eating habits. Ushiyama noted that the WFP had achieved positive results in various countries by combining school meal programmes with school gardens, nutrition education and local farming systems.
The meeting also discussed in detail the development of the Directorate of Primary Education’s existing integrated primary education information management and the WFP’s technical support in building integrated information management in future. Both sides agreed to enhance the effectiveness of the school meal programme.
Senior officials of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and the WFP were present at the meeting.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report