AGL 40.00 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
AIRLINK 129.06 Decreased By ▼ -0.47 (-0.36%)
BOP 6.75 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (1.05%)
CNERGY 4.49 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-3.02%)
DCL 8.55 Decreased By ▼ -0.39 (-4.36%)
DFML 40.82 Decreased By ▼ -0.87 (-2.09%)
DGKC 80.96 Decreased By ▼ -2.81 (-3.35%)
FCCL 32.77 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
FFBL 74.43 Decreased By ▼ -1.04 (-1.38%)
FFL 11.74 Increased By ▲ 0.27 (2.35%)
HUBC 109.58 Decreased By ▼ -0.97 (-0.88%)
HUMNL 13.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.81 (-5.56%)
KEL 5.31 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-1.48%)
KOSM 7.72 Decreased By ▼ -0.68 (-8.1%)
MLCF 38.60 Decreased By ▼ -1.19 (-2.99%)
NBP 63.51 Increased By ▲ 3.22 (5.34%)
OGDC 194.69 Decreased By ▼ -4.97 (-2.49%)
PAEL 25.71 Decreased By ▼ -0.94 (-3.53%)
PIBTL 7.39 Decreased By ▼ -0.27 (-3.52%)
PPL 155.45 Decreased By ▼ -2.47 (-1.56%)
PRL 25.79 Decreased By ▼ -0.94 (-3.52%)
PTC 17.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.96 (-5.2%)
SEARL 78.65 Decreased By ▼ -3.79 (-4.6%)
TELE 7.86 Decreased By ▼ -0.45 (-5.42%)
TOMCL 33.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.78 (-2.26%)
TPLP 8.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.66 (-7.28%)
TREET 16.27 Decreased By ▼ -1.20 (-6.87%)
TRG 58.22 Decreased By ▼ -3.10 (-5.06%)
UNITY 27.49 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.22%)
WTL 1.39 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.72%)
BR100 10,445 Increased By 38.5 (0.37%)
BR30 31,189 Decreased By -523.9 (-1.65%)
KSE100 97,798 Increased By 469.8 (0.48%)
KSE30 30,481 Increased By 288.3 (0.95%)
Print Print 2020-03-21

300 million children missing school meals due to virus closures: WFP

Some 300 million children who depend on school meals are missing out due to closures triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, the Worlld Food Programme said Friday The WFP pointed out that more than 860 million children - roughly half the world's student po
Published 21 Mar, 2020 12:00am

Some 300 million children who depend on school meals are missing out due to closures triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, the Worlld Food Programme said Friday The WFP pointed out that more than 860 million children - roughly half the world's student population - were having to stay away from schools and universities due to shutdowns aimed at halting the spread of COVID-19.
In addition to missing out on learning, hundreds of thousands of children are now missing free school lunches, the UN agency said. The WFP said nearly nine million children out of the 18 million the organisation itself feeds through school meals across 61 countries were no longer receiving them.
The agency said it was looking into alternative ways of providing children out of school with food, including take-home meals.
"Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, some 300 million primary schoolchildren are now missing out on school meals on which they depend," WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told reporters in an online briefing from Geneva. She warned that the number of children deprived of WFP-provided school meals "is set to rise in coming days and weeks." "In countries where schools are closed, WFP is evaluating possible alternatives.
"This includes providing take-home rations in lieu of the meals, home delivery of food and provision of cash or vouchers," she said. Byrs stressed that without alternative solutions, many children around the world blocked from attending school would otherwise go hungry.
She said the idea of take-home rations would benefit not only children but their families too. The governments of wealthy countries such as the United States, Britain, France and Canada have adopted special mechanisms to ensure that their poorest schoolchildren will not go hungry.
But the situation is much more precarious for children living in countries plagued by extreme poverty, armed conflict, and whose health systems are weak or almost non-existent. "We can shift to online learning, but not online eating. Some solutions are needed," Carmen Burbano, director of the WFP's school feeding division, told AFP.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2020

Comments

Comments are closed.