Luanda - The Angolan government is investing 36 billion kwanzas this school year for school meals in order to maximise school performance in primary education, the Minister of Action for Action, Family and Promotion of Women, Ana Paula do Sacramento Neto, said on Tuesday.
Eight million 933 thousand and 125 students in general and university education are attending the 2023/24 academic year, in the general and university subsystems in the country. One million 560,308 are children who have entered the education system for the first time.
Speaking on Public Television “Grande Entrevista” program, the Minister said that this action is part of the Integrated Program for Local Development and Combating Poverty.
However, the Minister acknowledged that the amount made available for school meals is still insufficient, so she called on companies, within the scope of social responsibility, to join the program in the areas where they develop their activity.
The minister said that the country has begun to implement the needs allied to school meals with funds from the General State Budget (OGE), but “there is still a long way to go, as the amount made available is not enough”.
The minister said that there are good initiatives by young people who are working on this issue, as well as some women who have joined and make school meals for schools, making them more nutritious and less expensive.
“We recognize that the economic situation is not good and that there are many families in a situation of vulnerability, however, there are scenarios of children who are exactly poor, but also children who simply leave home to take advantage of the goods that come from there, so it requires every chain of solidarity to overcome such issues”. JAM/MGM/ART/TED/DOJ
