Rural Students Expected to Get Nutrition Subsidy

A recent government initiative to prevent rural children from starving has raised the hopes of grassroots philanthropists. This came after the State Council, China's Cabinet, announced that the central government will offer nutrition subsidies to 26 million poor students in rural areas.

The central government pledged to allocate about 16 billion yuan ($2.5 billion) annually to 680 counties or cities nationwide as pilot projects, ensuring that all primary school and junior high school students will receive a daily subsidy of 3 yuan to improve their nutrition.

The decision was part of a statement released after a State Council executive meeting on Oct 26.

According to the statement, canteens will be built in schools selected for the pilot project and food safety enhanced. All subsidies will have to be used to buy food for students and cannot be distributed to students or their parents in cash.

Deng Fei, initiator of the charitable movement Free Lunch for Children, said he welcomed the State Council's decision to provide nutrition subsidies to rural students.

However, Deng said he was still slightly concerned about whether local governments could make use of the 16 billion yuan in a transparent and efficient way. He hoped that the money allotted did not get wasted or, worse, embezzled as a result of corruption.

Yu Jiantuo, program director of the China Development Research Foundation, said the grassroots free lunch program will act as a pilot project in exploring a low-cost and sustainable model to improve the nutrition status of students in poor areas.

"In the future, the collaboration between government and social organizations could be further strengthened, for example, the government could purchase services provided by these organizations, and the two sides could supervise each other," Yu said.

Source: Xinhua