The Ministry of Education is considering restarting the “milk feeding programme” in all nursery and primary schools across the country, the National Assembly was told on Monday.
According to Minster of Education Shaik Baksh, the programme, which has been discontinued for more than a year, was affected because Food for the Poor had stopped providing non-fat milk. Government decided to stop the initiative while it reviewed its cost. Baksh informed the House, that it will cost approximately $1 billion to provide all nursery and primary school students in the country with full-cream milk and biscuits.
Other options are also being considered by the government, the minister stated and he added that talks are being held with the Ministry of Health to determine other suitable options.
Fortified juices were identified by Baksh as one of the options under consideration.
Meanwhile the minster said he hoped the expenditure for this feeding programme will be reflected in next year’s budget.
Baksh was responding to several questions about the feeding programme posed by PNCR MPs.
This restarting of the milk and biscuit feeding programme is spectacular!
Well done, Minster of Education Shaik Baksh.
This is the best news ever in 2009 concerning little children. Concerning children; nothing this year will be able to surpass this good news.
God bless Stabroek News that Bloggers from all over the world can cry through this New Paper to bring back milk and biscuit in school. However, the Ministry leave out one thing. The Codliver Oil tablet was given to us along with the milk and biscuit. Please give the children the codliver oil tablets. It the source for A and D..
program abandoned cause an NGO stopped providing the non-fat milk!
Guyana your cup runneth over with broken promises and incompetents
I totally agree that this is the best bit of news to feed the little ones with full cream milk and not non fat milk!! Our children are our future and this initiative definitely will go a long way. I sincerely hope this feeding program kicks off!!
Good that the school would begin that feeding program again as they have access to more children on a daily basis.
the milk and biscuit program went a far way for lots of family.
GOOD GOING. THIS IS GOOD NEWS AS THE KIDS NEED IT.
congratulations are in order for the ministry of education from TORBO
i am please to read that the school children will once again benefit
from these nutrients and i hope that parents will now be motivated to
send their children to school, and as one blogger say please include
cod liver oil capsule..
An excellent idea.It’s called investing in human recources.Strong men & women of tomorrow means good governance & here’s hoping our country will be in a better position in all aspects.
The best news of the year so far, cause the children are our future.
Healthy foods equals strong bodies and minds. A proper, nutritionally balanced meal before school starts will go a long way for our children, their families and our country.
The only thing missing is the inclusion of a fruit for much needed vitamins that may not be found in the milk or biscuits. A good fruit that covers a wide spectrum of vitamins and is locally available is the banana.
I am in agreement with the cod liver oil comment. It contains fatty acids necessary for good brain and eye development. They are now discovering the benefits of omega 3 fatty acids here in the US when we knew it all along!
What about the Cod liver oil capsules and the vitamin B complex Malt??
During my time as a toddler, we got chocolate or strawberry milk, biscuits, capsules and the malt syrup, and all for free may I add. Guyana was a great country back then, so we simply took her largess for granted.