Govt to provide wholesome lunch to 1 million more schoolchildren

The Cabinet of Ministers has granted approval to the proposal submitted by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to take appropriate steps to provide a wholesome lunch to another one million school students.

The procedure will further extend the school lunch program which is already being implemented based on district-level data on poverty and nutrition, the Cabinet Spokesperson Minister Bandula Gunawardene mentioned at the Cabinet press conference held this morning (Oct 04).

A press release from the Department of Government Information read that the government has annually implemented the school lunch program aiming at 1.08 million students in 7, 926 schools by spending Rs. 4 billion.

Under the policy of eradicating poverty, the government expects to immediately implement the programs aimed at addressing concerns raised over nutrition, the statement added.