Director of Student Welfare Services Praises School Lunch Program

Director of Student Welfare Services Praises School Lunch Program
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 3/16/2013

The Executive Director of theNational Institute for Student Welfare (INABIE in Spanish), René Jáquez, said the School Food Program (PAE in Spanish) is one of the most supervised in the Dominican Republic in that it includes parents and students, teachers and education professional who provide information on this program.

Mr. Jáquezsaid this entity is preparing for the coming school year to further strengthen supervision of the companies that supply andstore the food.

Mr. Jáquezsaid this entity is preparing for the coming school year to further strengthen supervision of the companies that supply andstore the food. “There is a strong effort to substantially improve the quality control,” he said.

Jáquez offered the details on the topic of the Extended Day – School Lunch carried out as part of the International Extended Day Seminar: Experiences and Perspectives being Developed. The Seminar has been going on since last Wednesday with the participation of national and international experts.

He pointed out that the PAEwas founded and is maintained on the grounds that feeding children is fundamental to promote and increase their capacity of assimilation as well as reversing school drop-out rates, absenteeism and contributing to the stability of many families.

INABIE is up to date on its payments to the PAEsuppliers, has complied with the Law of Education in terms of decentralizing the economic programs and is administering allresources except for paychecks, explained Mr. Jáquez.

He explained that decentralization has madePAE’s bureaucratic processes much easier to accomplish. “We’ve reached an agreement with all suppliers, those we are working with and paying on a routine basis.They are very satisfied because they are finally seeing the advantages of decentralization.”

In his speech, Jáquezreleased the results of a study carried out as part of the pilot in the 97 schools that experimented with the Extended Day model which, along with other research and surveys such as the one done under the auspices of the World Food Program, can serve to design what could become the strategy for intervention in this program for the next school year, beginning this coming August.

The extended school day has been evaluated by all of the school principals and directors. Some 300 schools will adopt the extended day next year, joining the 97 that are already functioning with this model.

INABIE director Jáquez said the extended day with the modality of resource transfer has been most successful where there are organized centers and strong family and parent associations and where there are well-equipped kitchens, utensils and suitable kitchen conditions to efficiently operate.


INABIE Director, René Jáquez, speaking at the seminar. At the table, from left to right: the Director General of Educational Management and Alexis Fradera; Director of the DamasDiplomáticasSchool in Santo Domingo; Father José A. Díaz; panel coordinator, Juan Ramón Marrero and Director of the Café con Leche Center.