Lunch budget to be increased to Bt21 per student per day
A Cabinet meeting on Tuesday approved a motion proposed by the Education Ministry to increase the lunch budget for students by 5 per cent, or to Bt21 per person per day, government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said.
“The ministry reported that the lunch budget would cover students from Anuban 1 [kindergarten] to Prathom 6 [Grade 6] levels in 49,861 schools nationwide, totalling 5,894,420 students,” he said.
“The total required budget is Bt25.43 billion, which will be distributed by local government organisations and the Education Ministry’s office of permanent secretary.”
Anucha said the adjustment of the budget aims to conform to the current economic situation while focusing on providing nutritious food in adequate quantity to school children.
“The ministry estimates that the new lunch budget will be implemented by October 1, in time for the 2nd semester of 2021 on November 1,” he added.
Earlier, in September last year, the Cabinet approved the increase of the lunch budget to Bt20 per student per day from the previous rate of Bt13 since 2008, after the Office of the Basic Education Commission suggested that the suitable budget for school children’s lunch should be Bt24-36 per person per day.
