The Education Ministry has sought to assure the public that it remains committed to providing cooked lunches, snacks and breakfast to needy students through the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH).

In a release on Monday, Minister of Education Fayval Williams shared that as the Government gets ready to prepare another annual budget, “school feeding remains a priority budget item.”

The ministry was seemingly responding to reports that Edwin Allen High had discontinued its lunch programme under PATH for the rest of the term. The head of the institution said the decision was taken as the result of low funds. The school said it had exhausted the money the Government had provided for the term ending December.

In an effort to assure the masses that the Government was doing the best it could given the rise in food cost, Minister Williams highlighted that funding provided by the Andrew Holness-led administration assists in providing cooked meals as well as snacks for hundreds of students in need.

“The Ministry is aware of the rising cost of food supplies and the impact of inflation on the school feeding programme. Currently, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security provides $5.5 billion for our school feeding programme for this fiscal year FY2022/2023,” she said, explaining that the Ministry currently feeds 26,221 infants five years old and younger at the early childhood level, 63,476 students across grades 1 to 6 at the primary level and 65,169 students across grades 7 – 13 at the high school level.

Minister Williams went on to state that in the case of Edwin Allen, the school was provided with “$8,843,250 for 907 PATH students, as indicated by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, for the Christmas term.”

The statement also indicated that in addition to cooked meals, “the Ministry of Education and Youth also provides snacks to 18,732 students and breakfast to 60,207 students through the Nutrition Products Limited.”

“Funding is disbursed to the schools to provide cooked lunches for students on the basis that once meals are prepared in large quantities, the schools are able to reap the benefits of economy of scale, thus the students should be able to be fed for the agreed period,” Williams said.

“The meals being provided for students on the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education are not to be provided at a profit margin and thus should not be aligned to the cost charged for the regular lunches which are generally priced with a profit margin, even though minimal, at the school level.”

“Additionally, the Ministry of Education and Youth provides the funds to pay the cooks,” she said.