Student Welfare
School Feeding Programme
Good nutrition is important for the physical, social and mental development of the individual. It is especially important for children in the formative years as poor health coupled with poor nutrition diminish their cognitive development either through physiological changes and or by reducing their ability to participate in learning experiences.
In an effort therefore to ensure that the less privileged of society access and benefit from the educational experience in order to break the cycle of poverty, Jamaica, like other countries has moved towards implementing a school feeding programme to benefit these children.
School feeding Programmes are generally expected to elicit the following responses:
- Motivate parents to enrol their children in school and ensure that they attend regularly.
- Alleviate short-term hunger in school children thereby helping to increase their attention and concentration and by so doing, increase the gains in cognitive function and learning
- Reduction in absenteeism and increase in the time spent in school, so that educational outcomes may improve.
Among the factors that contribute to hunger in school children are the following:
- The long distances that some children have to travel to school
- Cultural meal practices that include no breakfast, or small breakfasts
- lack of family time or resources to provide adequate meals for children before and/or during the school day
School meals can therefore play an important role in the life of both the child and his /her family.
BACKGROUND OF SCHOOL FEEDING IN JAMAICA
The preparation of lunches in schools dates back to 1926, when it was
financed by a group of charitable persons within the corporate area.
Governments'participation began in 1939, in a limited number of schools.
This scheme was expanded in 1955, with the aid of food commodities from sources
within the United States of America, when a central kitchen was set up in the
corporate area to supply hot lunches to approximately 30 children.
In 1976, the USAID Food for Peace Programme began as a result of an
agreement between the Government of Jamaica and United States Government. Under
this agreement supplementary food commodities were received from USAID, between
1975 and 1988. Food was also received from other donors such as European
Economic Community (EEC) and Canadian International Developmental Agency (CIDA).
Commodities received were:
(a) EEC - Butter Oil, Milk Powder, Cornmeal.
(b)USAID - (PL 480) Wheat Flour, Cornmeal, Bulgar, Corn, Soya Blend.
(c)CIDA - Dried Skimmed Milk Powder.
In 1976, the Ministry of Education, with assistance from the USAID PL
480 Programme, introduced the Patty/Milk Programme. The Nutrition Products
Centre, at Marcus Garvey Drive, was charged with the responsibility of preparing
lunches for - 60,000 children in the corporate area.
Distribution of the products was done by using government owned and
equipped trucks especially purchased for this purpose.
The Patty and Milk Programme came to an end in the early eighties (1980's) .
Schools in the rural area were given commodities to prepare meals and serve directly to the children.
In 1984 with the assistance of the World Food Programme, introduced the Nutribun/Milk Programme as a Pilot Project. This pilot
targeted 14,500 beneficiaries in St. Thomas and Trelawny. In 1985 they aimed at
feeding 95,000 students in Primary, All-Age , and new Secondary
Schools. The programme was later expanded to feed 150,000 students in
recognized Basic, Infant, Primary, All Age Schools in the parishes of St.
Catherine, St. Thomas, Trelawny, St. Ann, St. James, and parts of St. Andrew.
An additional 45,000 beneficiaries in the parishes of Manchester,, Kingston,
Portland and St. Mary benefit from Government of Jamaica funding. The World
Food Programme (WFP) ended ON March 31, 1998
Current Situation
The School Feeding Programme is a fundamental part of the Ministry's welfare programme. The goals are :
- To encourage greater and more regular school attendance
- to alleviate hunger, and enhance the learnig capacity of the students providing a meal and or a snack
- To educate the children on the value of food through nutrition education classes
- To encouragethe children to grow their own food by establishing and supporting schools gardens
The School Feeding Programme has two components:-
(i) The Nutritbun and Milk/Drink Programme
(ii) The Traditional /Cooked Lunch Programme
The Nutribun Component:
The Nutribun programme is principally the responsibility of Nutrition Products Limited, an agency of the Ministry of Education. It aims to produce and distribute nutribun snacks which are comprised of milk and a solid (bun, rock cake, bulla, spice cake, cheese bread) to approximately 136,000 students. There are three factories strategically located to ensure easy access to the schools island wide.
Students are asked to make a contribution of $2.00 per snack. However, where a child is unable to pay this, he/she is not deprived of a nutribun snack as there is provision for free snacks.
Traditional Cooked Lunch Programme
They are 175,000
beneficiaries in 636 schools. The Ministry provides the following comodities:-
- Long grain rice
- Cornmeal
- Flour
- Vegetable Oil
- Corned Beef
- Mackerel
In addition to a feeding grant a subsidy of $350.00 per annum for these students in infant, primary, all-age, primary & junior high and some high schools. The beneficiaries in recognized basic schools receive a nutrition subsidy of $250.00 per year per child and the Ministry provides the same commodities listed above for 86,000 on these basic school children through the School Feeding Unit.
Participating students are required to make a contribution to each meal. This contribution together with the subsidy paid by the Ministry assists in the payment of cooks, the purchasing of fuel, meat, vegetables and other items not supplied by the Ministry. There is provision for students who are unable to pay, to receive a meal free of cost.
Financing the Programme
Both components of the school feeding programme are financed from the national budget. The budget for the financial year 2007/2008 was more than a billion dollars.
The PATH Programme
The School Feeding Programme also provides funds intended to assist with nutritional assistance for students on the PATH programme. The Programme of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH) is a programme funded by the Government of Jamaica and the World Bank aimed at delivering benefits to the most needy and vulnerable in the society
Efforts to Improve the School Feeding Programme
- In an effort to improve the programme the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the
Inter-American Development Bank/GOJ Reform of the Social Safety Net Project contracted
the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute (CFNI) which created the following for a pilot
which took place in St. Catherine in 2003:-
- Operations and procedures manua
-
Menu and recipe manual
The recommendations emanating from this pilot were submitted to the Cabinet Office and are to be implemented.
These manuals have since been supplied to all schools on the cooked lunch component to be used as guides in the preparation of well balanced meals.
- In 2005 the ministry prepared and distributed to all schools, Guidelines for the Operations of Tuck Shops and Canteens in Public Educational Institutions.These guidelines were intended to streamline the operations of canteens and tuck shops island-wide by ensuring that operations were
standardized, transparent, efficient and provided healthy meals/snacks to students.
The guidelines indicate that ‘schools should provide a variety of foods including fruits and that they should use proper menus which will provide balanced meals and/or snacks thus encouraging healthy eating habits.’
-
The Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute (CFNI) was also contracted to create cycle menus
and an operations manual for a Basic School Nutrition pilot which took place in St. Mary in
2006.These findings are now being collated and will advise the rollout of this programme in
Early childhood institutions.
|
