More than 300,000 Nghe An students participate in the "School Milk" Program

(Baonghean.vn) - Milk supply is not timely, schools lack storage conditions, there is still spoiled and sour milk and the cost of milk is higher than the market price... are the problems that were commented on at the Conference to summarize the Project "Pilot expansion of school milk program for the 2016-2017 school year" held on the morning of July 7.

At the end of the 2016-2017 school year, 21/21 districts and cities in the province had implemented the School Milk Program for students to drink milk with more than 311,000 preschool and primary school students participating (reaching a rate of 69%, an increase of 19% compared to the previous school year).

The total cost of drinking milk and operating the project is nearly 318 billion VND, of which parents contributed nearly 165 billion VND, and support from the Provincial People's Committee and TH Group was more than 153 billion VND.

Comrade Le Minh Thong - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired and spoke at the conference. Photo: My Ha

Assessment of physical fitness of students in 17 districts shows: Malnutrition in weight/age in kindergartens and primary schools decreased by an average of 2.78 - 2.85%; malnutrition in height decreased by an average of 2.39 - 2.75%.

However, in addition to the achieved results, the implementation of the project still has shortcomings that put pressure on schools such as: Inadequate facilities to arrange warehouses and shelves for standard milk, inappropriate delivery and receipt, many schools have difficulty in arranging human resources to participate in the program's activities, the collection and treatment of milk cartons is not guaranteed, posing a potential risk of environmental pollution.

Students of Nam Can Primary School (Ky Son) participate in the School Milk Program. Photo: My Ha.

In particular, in many places, the program has not received the attention of parents, students and teachers due to concerns about milk prices (the project's milk price is higher than the market price), the quality of milk in some places is not guaranteed, the supply is slow, the variety is not rich, and it is not suitable for preschool age. In some places, due to the low living standards of the people, there are not many conditions to participate.

Speaking at the conference, comrade Le Minh Thong highly appreciated the efforts and drastic participation of the units after two years of implementing the project. In the coming time, to effectively implement the program, he requested that localities need to step up communication work on the purpose and significance of the program and promptly develop an annual plan.

During the implementation process, he assigned the Department of Health to complete the report and project by the end of 2020 based on the comments to submit to the Provincial People's Committee and the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee. Localities and the education sector need to take drastic action, considering this an important task of significance to the development of the young generation.

Comrade Le Minh Thong presented certificates of merit to outstanding groups. Photo: My Ha.

As for TH Group, he hopes that the unit will soon coordinate with relevant departments to resolve difficulties and obstacles and continue to accompany the province in the process of implementing the project. Nghe An also hopes that after TH Group, there will be more businesses joining the program so that more and more students will be supported, especially near-poor students in remote, isolated and disadvantaged areas.

On this occasion, the Provincial People's Committee awarded certificates of merit to 13 units with outstanding achievements in the project implementation process.

My Ha