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'Rise Up Sri Lanka School Meal Programme’: Providing mid-day meals for school children in Sri Lanka

05 Jun 2022

  • School attendance drops due to unavailability of food
  • Cost per student, per simple nutritious meal estimated at approximately Rs. 100
  • CSR initiative open to donations
  Sri Lanka is in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis with extreme inflation and shortages of essential items, including food. As a result, schools in Sri Lanka are noticing a decrease in the attendance of students, particularly in schools located in areas that are severely impacted by this economic crisis. One of the main reasons attributed to this attendance decline is lack of availability of food. The ‘Rise Up Sri Lanka School Meal Programme’ (https://www.facebook.com/RiseUpMeals) is collaborating with former Secretary to the Ministry of Education, Dr. Tara De Mel, to provide a mid-day meal to students of schools located in certain underprivileged areas of Sri Lanka. Simultaneously schools will be encouraged to develop ‘food gardens’ to sustain the school meal programme. Catastrophic situation Despite her extensive experience in the education sector, Dr. Mel says this kind of crisis has never been experienced before: “Although I have been directly working in the education sector for nearly 12 years, this type of crisis in learning has never been experienced before. It is indeed a catastrophic situation, affecting the future generation.” Asserting that one of the multiple cascading effects of the ongoing unprecedented economic crisis was falling school attendance, she said that Sri Lanka’s lower socio-economic groups were facing the daunting task of not being able to feed their children adequately. “Most children attend school without having a morning meal and schools that has previously provided mid-day meals have stopped providing food due to financial and other constraints. Some schools are showing a decline in student attendance and this is linked to unavailability of mid-day meals, transportation challenges and availability of uniforms,” she added. The ‘Rise Up Sri Lanka School Meal Programme’ currently covers 15 schools with five schools each from the Maha Oya Education Zone – Ampara District (Eastern Province), Deraniyagala Education Division – Kegalle District (Sabaragamuwa Province), and Hambantota Education Zone – Hambantota District (Southern Province). The education directors of these zones/divisions will identify the schools based on family income and socio-economic status of the students /families, and the numbers of students in each school. Implementation methodology To implement the programme, school directors and principals will discuss how meal provision can be arranged practically. Meals will be provided at least two to three times a week from June to August 2022 at the minimum. Extension of the programme is also possible. Principals with staff and parents will identify the type of meals which can be prepared using available resources. Groups of parents on rotation will take responsibility of preparing the meals and distributing them to all the students of each school. Principals will share the official school bank account details to which funds will be transferred and will maintain an account of how the monies were spent. At the end of eight to 10 weeks, progress will be assessed and decision taken on continuation. Due to the higher number of requests from other parts of the country, more schools are being added to the programme and anyone is able to join it to support a meal for school children affected by the current economic crisis. CSR initiative open to donors The ‘Rise Up Sri Lanka School Meal Programme’ is a CSR initiative by Avaaya Research – Sri Lanka, launched with the support of likeminded organisations and individuals in Sri Lanka To join the project and help provide a meal to needy school children in Sri Lanka, see Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/RiseUpMeals and email vijitha@avaayaresearch.com or gg8184@gmail.com. The schools listed in the chart were sent to Avaaya by the respective school directors, for intervention from June-August 2022. The cost per student, per meal is estimated at Rs. 100 and the plan is to provide simple meals within that cost, twice a week for eight to 10 weeks or thrice a week for eight to 10 weeks. The costs will vary accordingly. Donors who wish to support a full four- to eight-week programme of any of the schools in the list can directly send funds to school principals of respective schools and the project team will do the required facilitations and progress monitoring on the implementation of the programme based on the meal guidelines provided to them. Schools will purchase required provisions and cook and serve the meals with the support of parents and teachers. Alternatively, donors who can support for a few days or few weeks may directly send funds to the Avaaya Research bank account and the project team will consolidate the funds received to implement the full programme in remaining schools where direct funding is not available to support the full programme. Periodical updates will be shared about the progress made via email and through the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/RiseUpMeals.  To send funds through Avaaya Research, the bank details are as follows: Avaaya Research, Seylan Bank – Nugegoda, Sri Lanka AC No: 012013134596120. A receipt will be issued within 24 hours of receiving a donation and progress of the project will be shared with each donor upon completion of the funding period. Impact of inadequate nutrition Commenting on the impact of inadequate nutrition on school children, Dr. De Mel said: “It is common knowledge that adequate nutrition is a prerequisite for brain growth and for enabling learning amongst school-age children.” The decrease in adequate nutrition is compounding the ‘learning losses’ that have been in existence ever since the pandemic-led school closures began in March 2020, she asserted.  “Sri Lanka’s economic crisis is not only escalating poor learning amongst school kids. In addition, economic recovery, which may take place someday, will not be sustainable if school-leavers aren’t adequately equipped and empowered educationally, so that they can meet the demands of a harsh and challenging socio-economic environment.” Help feed schoolchildren To join the project and help provide a meal to needy school children in Sri Lanka:
  • Facebook: Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/RiseUpMeals or 
  • Email: info@avaayaresearch.com, vijitha@avaayaresearch.com, or gg8184@gmail.com
  • Bank details: Avaaya Research, Seylan Bank – Nugegoda, Sri Lanka AC No: 012013134596120.
 


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