Although the Government appears to have numerous plans to salvage the crisis-affected country, how many of those plans actually materialise, and how many will succeed remain unknown today. While major issues like external debt and local debt receive adequate attention and prioritisation by policymakers, some issues are conveniently overlooked.

The school lunch programme is one such issue that has been swept under the rug. The school lunch program should be a key concern for countries that are serious about the future of their children. The programme had been facing various challenges without adequate support from State authorities in the past. Although the authorities claim that it could be successfully continued with the proper management of the available resources, it does not seem to receive that intervention.

Last week, this matter revolved back into the spotlight when the General Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers' Union (CTU) Joseph Stalin, alleged that only the midday meals suppliers of the Western Province have been paid for their service, while the suppliers of certain other Provinces are voluntarily committed to supplying midday meals even though they are not being paid properly. This allegation has been accepted to a certain extent by Education Minister Dr. Susil Premjayantha, who said that while some dues have been settled, more arrears would be paid with the assistance of the World Bank, after which the provision of midday meals could resume.

In the current socio-economic context, the failure to provide adequate nutrition for school going children is a serious issue. While both local and international groups have repeatedly cautioned of the worsening malnutrition situation in the country, especially among children and the elderly, it is no secret that the ability of families to provide even the basic facilities including food to their children have waned notably. At the same time, in a situation where school children’s academic activities including exams have remained disrupted for years after the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, the provision of a meal is necessary to uphold their physical health to continue academic activities.

While there is no denying that the economic crisis has weakened the Government’s ability to spend on many fronts, the blame cannot be placed entirely on the economic crisis. It is a reality that the Government is yet to properly identify its priorities especially when it comes to matters that concern rural folk or provinces which are distant from the west coast. The public must demand answers to why arrears of the supplier who service the Western Province was settled, while the arrears of some of the other provinces were deemed less important, or urgent to settle? A State cannot select to be bankrupt for part of its territory and be plentiful only for the capital regions.

We find authorities still allocating money for non-essential activities and wasteful practices. Therefore, instead of waiting for the World Bank’s assistance, or any party’s assistance for that matter, in order to give school children a meal, the Government should ask itself how seriously it has felt the impacts of the economic crisis.

The fact that this issue appears to be prevalent outside major provinces such as the Western Province, as per the said allegations, is concerning, because it is those provinces that require most support. Even though the Western Province remains the capital in terms of economy, politics, population and development, which automatically attracts more attention and priority, that should not result in the provision of meals in the Western Province receiving more attention. Although that is not to say that all students/schools in the Western Province are not affected by the economic crisis. However, given the scale of equality, those provinces outside the Western Province should receive more attention when it comes to providing meals, because those provinces have faced systemic and long term issues linked to low-income, poverty and the lack of infrastructure and other facilities.

Instead of defaulting on its payments to meal providers or waiting for external assistance and using the same to buy time, the Government should take a more proactive approach to dealing with this issue.

The Government needs to understand that this is not an issue that could be postponed, or an issue that lasts only for a short period of time. It has to understand that malnutrition and disruptions to education are issues that last for generations, and that they affect the country’s future. Delayed action will only let this issue snowball into a bigger crisis later on.