Increase PATH allocation for school lunches - JASW

 

The Jamaica Association of Social Workers (JASW) is recommending that the funds allocated under the Programme of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH) to schools to provide meals, be increased to $600 per student.

 

At present, the daily lunch rate is $150 and $250 for infant and secondary schools, respectively.

 

JASW President Jacqueline Bryan lamented that the funds are woefully insufficient.

 

"If you look at the cost of chicken, and chicken is the most staple that young people will eat - fried chicken or stew chicken or curry chicken - and the cost of chicken is up there. So when you're saying that you're sending $200 to provide lunch per child for five days, that's not able to happen. So that's what we're dealing with. And this has been going on for years in terms of, yes, it's been increased, but the increase is not in comparison to the cost of living, what we're having and what we're experiencing," she complained. 

 

While the issue persists, schools like Spanish Town Primary continue to find creative ways to fill the gaps to ensure students on PATH receive lunch daily.

 

"We have to have a gentleman who supplies us with lunches at the $250. So we had a meeting with him and he has agreed, and so they get something warm each day. But I don't know how much longer he'll hold out at $250. I guess at some point in time, he might say, well, things are increasing and so we have to increase that $250 per child," noted Roogae Kirlew, Principal of Spanish Town Primary. 

 

"But it is affecting us significantly because more funds need to be allocated; that's just the bottom line - and a reasonable amount of funding that the students can pretty much buy a proper lunch and a drink or a water." 

 

When contacted previously, Labour and Social Security Minister Pearnel Charles Jr. said he was not aware of the challenges being faced by schools in relation to the inadequacy of funds allocated for students on PATH.

 

Last month, the minister announced that a reform of the PATH programme is underway.