The director of the National Institute for Student Welfare, Inabie, said that this institution has the capacity to provide school supplies and food to students who, for reasons of space, the Ministry of Education sent to private schools so that they do not lose the school year.
Victor Castro said that the first thing is to ensure that these children receive the bread of education, because the greatest evil is that they stay out of the classrooms, but the conditions that are maintained in them, with the help and investment that the State makes, must reach them.
Castro recalled that Inabie has the capacity to expand programs, and if there is a segment of the student population that is not in public school classrooms and needs food, the institution has the availability to do so, and school supplies are also available.
Interviewed by Héctor Herrera Cabral on the D’AGENDA program that is broadcast every Sunday on Telesistema channel 11 and TV Quisqueya for the United States, the official added that the government delivered uniforms to one hundred percent of the student population, who belong to the public sector, and if 10% had to be replaced, the institution he directs has the inventory to do so.
He explained that an additional ten percent was purchased based on last year’s experience, because in November there was a storm that caused flooding in a large part of the national territory, specifically in Santo Domingo Oeste where many poor families lost everything including school uniforms, and the same thing happened in the province of San José de Ocoa, and Inabie was able to intervene quickly, and replaced the uniforms for those children.
“In this situation, and the country’s fragile condition due to atmospheric phenomena, we decided to tender 10% more to the student population, and we have an inventory, meaning that for those children, who were sent to private schools due to lack of places, we could be talking this Monday with the Minister of Education to see the possibility of extending the programs to students who are in that situation, due to the condition that is already known,” promised the official.
He insisted that he will discuss the case with Dr. Ángel Hernández, and the most important thing is that Inabie is capable of doing so, because there are the available resources and the will.
“That is, we could be collecting data to find out where these children are, and we would be happy to respond with the services of the National Institute of Student Welfare,” confirmed Victor Castro.
He said that the government is currently investing RD$2,000 million pesos per month in the school feeding program for more than two million students, to whom more than five million meals are delivered per day, impacting 725 thousand families daily.
He called for not demonizing this program because when children are given uniforms, school supplies and food, they are not asked about their religious beliefs, baseball sympathies, and much less about politics, so he asked to be more careful when spreading alleged food poisoning with school breakfast, because almost always this has no relation to the truth, and the best example is that last year no type of event of that nature occurred, and so far this year, none has occurred either.
He recalled that the program, according to several international and local organizations, is reducing monetary poverty by two percent of the Gross Domestic Product.
Regarding the start of the current school year, the director of Inabie said that President Luis Abinader inaugurated it on August 26 with a record attendance of 83%, and the delivery of the School Feeding Program was 95%, but they were ready to supply one hundred percent, something that was not possible due to some situations with the suppliers.
Victor Castro admits that it is sad that there is no water for children to drink at school
Inabie director Víctor Castro says that having water for three important components is more important than food, and he spoke about this at a seminar held recently in Mexico where 26 countries met to analyze the different formulas to improve school feeding programs.
“We arrived last weekend from Mexico, where there were 26 countries to determine what to do to improve school nutrition, and the topic that I had to address was, precisely, water, and I said that without underestimating the importance of food, having water for three essential components in a school is more important than the food itself,” said the official.
In this regard, he stressed the importance of water for hygiene, for preparing food, and for children to drink, while admitting that it is sad that in a school there is no precious liquid for students to drink after lunch.
“I myself go to lunch at an educational center and there is no water to drink, that is sad, but 70 years ago in Japan the school feeding law was approved, that program was supported by the aid that this Asian nation received, because it was a poor country, but 18 years later it had already overcome that situation, and they dedicated themselves to improving their school feeding program,” reasoned the official.
He said that the Dominican Republic is becoming the number one country in this regard because, “we have reduced hunger, we are improving nutritional quality, and on Friday I had a meeting with the World Food Program, which after what I presented in Mexico, where they were present, they are accompanying us so that we can bring water, at those three levels that I talked about, to all the educational centers in the country.”
“This is going to be revolutionary, because one goes to an educational center and many times, for physiological needs, there is no water, so, we, along with the World Food Program, are starting a program to supply water for hygiene, food preparation, and human consumption, to have the liquid in all educational centers,” Castro reiterated.
In the same vein, the director of Inabie says that the institution he heads is making progress in its objective of ensuring that suppliers of the School Feeding Program prepare food and serve it hot in educational centers, which involves enabling kitchens in schools, of which there are already 1,500 enabled.
She said that the program will be much stronger when the School Food and Nutrition Act comes into force, which aims to ensure that this program is a State policy and not the will of a government in power.
She recalled that the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has defined the School Feeding Program as a crucial tool to ensure that children receive the nutrients necessary for their development and well-being.
