There will be additional funding to provide free school meals at primary schools in the Caribbean Netherlands. This was announced by poverty policy minister Schouten today.

It was already announced last week that free school breakfast will be provided at 500 primary schools with many vulnerable pupils in the European Netherlands. This initiative of course also applies to pupils in the Caribbean Netherlands. There was intensive contact with the public entities at the start of this week to see how this can be arranged, also because there are already good local initiatives. The cabinet is immediately allocating 250,000 euros to expand existing initiatives and take additional measures.

Minister Schouten: “We really need to prevent children from going to school on an empty stomach because the living expenses for parents have become too expensive. It is not only unhealthy but also very difficult to concentrate on an empty stomach. That is why the cabinet is now releasing money for extra school meals at primary schools in the Caribbean Netherlands.”

The public entities will be in charge of distributing the school meals. This fits in with the role the public entities already have. The concrete interpretation will thus be determined locally. The extra free school meals will be provided over a period of four months. In addition, the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science will soon come up with a plan for school lunches at schools in the European and Caribbean Netherlands.

RCN