─ cereal for Grade Six students countrywide
Employment will soon be made available for some 20 persons in Essequibo, Region Two, as the government is moving to revive the Morning Glory Cereal Inc to provide breakfast for Grade Six students countrywide. The Ministry of Education will be sourcing the cereal to provide breakfast to schools under the National Breakfast Programme.
Education Minister, Priya Manickchand made this disclosure on Thursday when she launched the programme at Taymouth Manor Primary School.
“Because we’re going to be buying that cereal, all those persons will be employed for the cereal factory, the cereal factory is going to be boosted and reinvigorated to provide not only cereal for you here on the Essequibo Coast but for the children across Guyana where we are purchasing that.
“Of the 15 schools we have on the Essequibo Coast that are benefitting from this, 15 women […] We asked for persons where we felt we could boost them with employment. So, 15 of your local women are providing food for your children across the Essequibo coast,” the minister told the gathering.
She revealed that attendance at schools has improved since the initiative was implemented.
“What we see is children coming to school early to get breakfast and then being able to benefit from being early in school. My friends, these are not accidental programmes, these programmes come from a will to serve you, to be your servants. To serve in a way that your life and your children’s life get changed.”
The $267 million Breakfast Programme which was rolled out in September, provides daily meals to Grade Six students in Regions Two, Three, Four, Five, Six and 10.
Meanwhile, Director of Distribution Service at MOE, Wenthworth Tanner stated that by the end of the 2022 to 2023 school year, approximately 15 million meals will be provided to students across the country.