Moldovan PM considers feeding pupils in schools

Chisinau, 26 February /MOLDPRES/- Prime Minister Ion Chicu today convened a meeting to review the issue on feeding pupils in schools and identify possibilities for improvement. Attending the event were representatives of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection, the National Agency for Food Safety, the National Agency for Public Health, the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure and the Ministry of Finance, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.

The management of the Ministry of Education presented the information on the level of preparation of 900 educational institutions for feeding a larger number of students and noted that most institutions require furniture and tableware, and 254 of them generally do not have a canteen.

Ion Chicu asked the officials to make an inventory of the existing capacities in the school institutions and to elaborate the list of necessities, in order to ensure the supply of the pupils in the secondary classes, namely the V-IX grades. The outsourcing of food services to specialized companies was discussed, which will be strictly monitored by the institutions responsible for product quality.

The prime minister announced he will invite economic agents specialized in the production and delivery of food to discuss their ability to take over the supply of children starting with the new school year.

"We need to identify opportunities to feed pupils in the high school free of charge and the food needs to be healthy, balanced and varied,” Chicu said.