Nepalese PM says 3.3 million children benefitting from school meal programme

Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal outlined the country’s ‘success’ in the school meal programme and said 3.3 million children all over the country are directly benefitting every day from the programme.

Prime Minister Dahal, who is on a week-long visit to Italy, addressed the official opening session of UNFSS +2 on Monday (24) in the capacity of the Chair of Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group.

“As such, 3.3 million children, including girls, all over the country are directly benefitting every day from the program. We have seen impressive results in school nutrition in boosting enrolment, attendance, and learning outcomes,” the PM said.

At the ‘plenary session on school meals powering food system transformation', the PM said school meal programmes play a critical role in promoting student health, academic performance, and overall well-being.

Reassuring his commitment to the programme, Dahal said, “We have quadrupled the budget in the last five years for this purpose. In the current fiscal year, we have allocated 6 per cent of the total education budget to school meals. We are committed to further scaling up investment and resources for this important safety net.”

The Prime Minister talked about his government’s efforts to establish a sustainable home-grown school feeding model and expand local food production to ensurea diversified and nutritious food supply for school meals.

Nepal will graduate from LDC by 2026.

On the sidelines, Prime Minister will hold a bilateral meeting with his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina in Rome and a separate meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres.

WATCH WION LIVE HERE