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Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 29, 2020 (SKNIS): Students who require a hot lunch will benefit from such when the School Meals Programme resumes operations on Tuesday, May 05, 2020, after being closed for several weeks due to the COVID-19 Pandemic in St. Kitts and Nevis.

“The Ministry of Education has taken the decision to resume School Meals next week Tuesday. Therefore, students who are in need of a hot lunch will be provided with lunch as of Tuesday of next week,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, the Honourable Shawn Richards during his appearance on Tuesday’s (April 28) edition of  ‘Leadership Matters’, a virtual forum on ZIZ TV.

He noted that preparations were made to inform parents about the initiative.

“The Ministry of Education has already put out a PSA [Public Service Announcement] asking parents to get in touch with the teacher, the principal for the school that the child attends or visit the schools on Thursday (April 30) of this week as we have asked the secretaries to be at each of the primary schools to take the information so that we have an idea as to which students are in need of lunch and we are also able to map out where in the various communities we need to distribute these lunches to our students,” said Deputy Prime Minister Richards.

Deputy Prime Minister Richards added “we are mindful of the fact that there are also some students in the secondary schools who may be in need of such assistance. Likewise, parents of students attending the secondary schools are asked to get in touch with the principal, form teacher or secretary at the school to give the necessary information.”

Deputy Prime Minister Richards said that the government continues to ensure that the future of every student in St. Kitts and Nevis is secured.

The aim of the St. Kitts School Feeding Programme is to provide top-quality balanced meals that promote healthy bodies and healthy minds in the students of the nation. School Meals is an initiative initiated in 1982 by the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis to provide meals for all primary school students and for needy students in high school. This programme has been extended to some private schools in recent times.

The meals are prepared at a central location at the School Meals Center located at Needsmust Estate and distributed to all the schools that are a part of the programme. This is done daily through the efficient use of the ‘school meals buses’. By 11:30 am all meals would have reached their final destinations.