The Education Ministry and the Health Ministry have taken steps to inspect food items at government schools since school canteens are reportedly providing students with fatty and sugary food items as well as food items that lack nutrition.
About 1,267 PHIs and 2,800 Family Health Nurses have been deployed to visit schools since October 1 to inspect the school canteens to ensure that the students are provided with nutritious food items during school time.
“There is no shortage of food items for students but they are provided with unnecessary and unfit food items and it is a cause for malnutrition among the children. School canteen owners will be advised to provide gram, green gram, manioc and kola kenda made with herbs and green leaves to students instead of food items prepared with wheat flour. School heads too are answerable if proper and nutritious food items are not supplied to the students,” a ministry official said.
The Education Ministry have received about 2,000 complaints over the unfit food items, Kurunegala District Senior Director of Education W.M.Balasooriya said.
He was speaking at a meeting of school heads of the Kurunegala District yesterday at the Kurunegala Zonal Education Office.
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