As part of a significant welfare initiative, the KP government has decided to launch the Schools Khana Program, which will give free meals to students in public primary schools in urban areas near all divisional headquarters in the province.
On Monday, Chief Minister of KP Sardar Ali Amin Khan Gandapur presided over a meeting when this decision was made.
The meeting was attended by the Chief Executive Officer of the private welfare organization Allahwale Trust, Shahid Lone, and other staff members in addition to Provincial Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Faisal Khan Tarakai, Advisor to the Chief Minister on Finance Muzamil Aslam, Additional Chief Secretary Planning and Development Syed Imtiaz Hussain Shah, and other senior officials of the concerned departments.
At the conference, it was decided to launch the effort in Abbottabad and Swat as a trial project, with plans to expand it to the province’s other divisional headquarters in the future.
Every day, around 70,000 youngsters will receive nutritious food at no cost as part of the proposed program. The provincial government will fund the programme, which has an estimated annual cost of Rs 50 crore.
It was also resolved that in order to carry out the suggested program, the Social Welfare Department and the aforementioned private welfare group would establish a Memorandum of Understanding.
During the meeting, a committee made up of representatives from the Department of Education and Social Welfare was formed to move forward with the program’s implementation. This committee will complete all the necessary details and present the program to the provincial cabinet for final approval.
Speaking at the event, the Chief Minister said that the scheme being presented is yet another significant welfare effort of the current province government, providing free and high-quality food to students attending government schools.
Additionally, it will aid in the growth of enrolment in government schools, and priority funding for this reason will come from the province government. According to him, the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf believed that allocating all available resources to the needs of the populace was essential, and the current provincial government will continue to launch such welfare initiatives in line with this vision.
He gave the relevant authorities instructions to complete the action plan as quickly as feasible in order to go on with the proposed program’s practical implementation.
