All new schools will be built with cafeterias: education minister

Education Minister Aishath Ali has said that all schools to be built in the country from now “will have cafeterias.”

Minister Aishath said this while speaking at the launching ceremony of the government’s school breakfast programme at Thaajuddeen School on Tuesday morning.

She noted that it has been over a century since schools around the world established this practice, adding that these schools have built in cafeterias to do so.

Further highlighting that this programme was launched in Maldives just this year, the minister breakfast will be distributed to schools in their classrooms.

While there are 213 government schools, the government launched a pilot breakfast programme at the start of this academic year in January.

Vice President Faisal Naseem attended Tuesday’s launching ceremony.

Speaking at the ceremony, the vice president stated that this programme is “a key policy initiative of this government pertinent to the education sector.”

He said that by ensuring that all students have access to a healthy meal first thing in the morning, the breakfast programme “will prove a boon to student’s health and well-being, and also assist them to pay attention and retain information during lessons.”

The president’s office said that with the inauguration of this programme “a total of 57,817 students across 180 islands were provided with a healthy and nutritious breakfast.”