THE EDITOR: In TT, the School Feeding Programme is exceptional.
Exceptional in the sense that it is not usual, and it is not typical. For instance, in schools in other parts of the world school feeding programmes are not free. In most other places, parents pay at the beginning of the term for their children to be eligible for school meals.
However, in TT the school meals are free of charge. Our forefathers would have realised that students are coming to school hungry and, hence, they cannot focus. Over the years the programme has deteriorated to the point where the students prefer to remain hungry rather than eating the tasteless school meal.
What I am saying is that the Ministry of Education must do better. It has to improve the standard of the meals being served. What the minister has to do is picture her son eating a box lunch every day at school. Then ask herself, “Is my son comfortable eating this? Is he enjoying it? Is it fulfilling him? Is this tasty? Is this something I would cook for my child?”
If the minister does this, the school feeding programme would improve drastically. Because as it is, the millions spent on this programme are being wasted by the boxes across the nation’s schools.
JOSEPH NOEL SIMON
josephnoelsimon001@gmail.com
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