1.1 crore primary students to get nutritious meals: Boby Hajjaj

The government is planning to launch a nationwide one-meal nutritious food programme for students of government primary schools. According to the plan, from 2027, around 1.10 crore students from approximately 66,000 government primary schools will be brought under the programme. Currently, a pilot programme is running in 150 upazilas covering over 30 lakh students.

The government is optimistic about expanding the programme nationwide next year, drawing on experience from the pilot project, said Boby Hajjaj, State Minister for Primary and Mass Education .

The state minister made the remarks while speaking to journalists after a workshop with head teachers from 167 government primary schools under the pilot programme in Paikgachha upazila, Khulna, on Thursday, September 3.

The state minister said while there were some initial issues with food supply and quality, the situation has significantly improved. Food is now being supplied according to standards. Schools have been given the option to reject and return unripe bananas or substandard food to the supplier.

He said the new guidelines have introduced stricter measures to control food quality. If a complaint of rotten or substandard food supply is received, samples will be sent for testing within 24 hours. Based on the test results, the supplier's tender or supply order could be cancelled. He said that under the new guidelines, the error rate in the pilot project has dropped to near zero over the last two to two-and-a-half months.