The National Institute of Student Welfare (INABIE) reported that the School Feeding Program (PAE) represents an effective mechanism to offset the economic burden of vulnerable families, especially in the face of global inflationary spikes caused by the current war between Russia and Ukraine that would unleash a food crisis, according to estimates from the United Nations for the Food and Agriculture (FAO), leaving millions of people around the world at risk of famine.
Given this situation of global impact, as a result of a cost survey at the market level carried out in March by the institution, it was found that Dominican families whose children are in the more than 4,000 schools under the Extended School Day avoid having to allocate up to RD$1,800 million per month for lunch.
The lowest value per serving at that time could increase in view of the fact that the Dominican FAO has warned of a “prolonged price escalation.”
Read more: Internal elections of the PRM take place normally
In addition, the positive impact in this emergency context is much greater in view of the fact that the students, as well as the teaching and administrative staff, are provided with breakfast and a snack.
It is estimated that more than 774,000 families are impacted by school lunch nationwide and on average in schools under the PAE there are 1.6 children for each of them.
However, the total enrollment of the School Feeding Program adds up to 1.8 million beneficiaries (students, teaching and administrative staff) both in the extended day modality and in the morning session.
Also read: They know coercion of police officers accused of the death of Richard Báez
“We are aware that the School Feeding Program has a historical debt with quality, for which we are making adjustments in order to raise its safety levels. But there is no doubt about the positive impact on those households that often do not have the resources to provide food for their children and thanks to the PAE they can rest easy,” said Víctor Castro, executive director of INABIE, who highlighted President Luis Abinader’s commitment to bring quality of life to Dominican families through these public policies.
In this sense, the PAE constitutes the public policy with the greatest social impact developed by the Dominican Government for its assistance to students and their thousands of families.
The food combinations used are prepared by a team of nutrition specialists, who, when preparing the menus, take into account the nutritional levels required by the students according to clinical data and the support of internationally renowned organizations such as the World Food Program. .
