Minister of Education says that school breakfast ranks third in coverage in the region

Minister of Education says that school breakfast ranks third in coverage in the region
Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo, 06/11/2011

Lic. Josefina Pimentel, Minister of Education, said that the Dominican Republic’s School Feeding Program (PAE, for its acronym in Spanish) ranks third in the region in terms of coverage, reaching more than 80 percent of the school population, and with an investment higher than the average shown for the other countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The workshop is a joint venture of MINERD and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), whose main objective is to discuss and validate a situational analysis of PAE, using eight standards as the bases for the analysis.

In her opening remarks during the seminar on the overview of the school feeding programs worldwide as a tool for social protection, the Minister of Education said that the PAE is one of the most far-reaching social programs of the Dominican State, both in terms of coverage and of the resources that are being allocated.

Pimentel stressed that this program is run with an investment exceeding 10 million dollars per month, and that it benefits about 1.6 million schoolchildren across the country daily.

The Minister recalled that, with PAEs, governments in Latin America and the Caribbean seek to fulfill their responsibilities of promoting the right to education and food, and reaffirming the right of schoolchildren to healthcare, with special focus on vulnerable populations such as those with the highest poverty rates.

During the inauguration of the two-day workshop, which takes place at the Meliá Santo Domingo hotel, José Antonio Castillo, Regional Program Officer of the United Nations World Food Program, offered a lecture on the topic Overview of school feeding programs worldwide as tools for social protection.

Castillo presented data on the management of school breakfasts worldwide, their contribution to the physical and emotional development of children, to student’s brain growth, and to the well-being of the students’ families. He said that 66 million school-age children go to school hungry, a reality that should serve as the motivation to keep the program in force.

He noted that such efforts of the Dominican government should encourage other ministries to work together, for example with the Ministry of Health, to raise quality standards. He said that all the developed countries maintain this program and other nations, such as Argentina and Chile, plan to expand it to the secondary school level.

The workshop is a joint venture of MINERD and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), whose main objective is to discuss and validate a situational analysis of PAE, using eight standards as the bases for the analysis.

Meanwhile, the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System, Valerie Julliand, said that the workshop is interested in convening the leadership, experts and key actors of the PAE, in order to address the nutritional needs of the school population as well.

The United Nations System and the MINERD have been worked together on a number of papers and presentations to support the strengthening of the program, among which is the project document Contribute to increasing the quality and impact of the School Feeding Program of the Ministry of Education, signed in November, 2010.

Center, the Minister of Education, Josefina Pimentel, and the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System, Valerie Julliand, at the opening of the seminar. Additionally, other officers from both entities are also in attendance.