A little over $79,000 is spent daily to provide a hot meal for the 5,670 who benefit from the National School Meals Programme, director of the government initiative Ezra Knowles disclosed yesterday.
She was speaking at a commissioning ceremony to mark the addition of Mary E. Pigott Primary to the programme which now caters to the nutritional needs of students from 29 public primary schools and three pre-schools.
“We have now completed our target of reaching all primary schools in Antigua. The programme aims at protecting our most vulnerable students against hunger by providing hot lunches for them. Mary E. Pigott would not have been possible today without a number of corporate citizens,” Knowles said.
Principal of the school, Christopher Roberts, was elated that the educational institution was finally added to the national school meals programme.
“We have been hearing that the building would not be ready because it could not be prepared, and so we had turned our minds off and were looking for other alternatives. By the grace of God we are here today and we are indeed happy,” Roberts said.
The programmme will be extended to Barbuda later this year.