China earmarks funds to improve rural students' nutrition

By CnAgri Print

BEIJING, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese central government allocated 15.05 billion yuan (2.4 billion U.S. dollars) in meal subsidies to improve the nutrition of rural students this year, the Ministry of Finance announced Wednesday.

The subsidies benefited more than 26 million rural students, according to a ministry statement.

The central government has also set aside 19.42 billion yuan to support renovation of school cafeterias.

Some children in the country's remote backwaters, most of whom have food at school as their homes are far away, still find meals either too small or lacking in nutrition, raising concerns over their health and future developments.

A report released last year by the China Development Research Foundation (CDRC), a major organization campaigning for the government-led nutrition program, showed 12 percent of students in central and western China's rural regions suffered from growth retardation due to lack of nutrition.

The survey was based on physical examinations of 1,458 rural students aged between 10 to 13.

To address the issue, China started a nutrition improvement program in 680 poor counties in 2011. Under the program, each rural student in the nine-year compulsory education period in the 680 counties is entitled to a three-yuan meal subsidy per day.

However, in some cases the funding has not been effectively used in the policy's implementation process due to a lack of supervision.

In its latest report, the CDRC called for a more detailed responsibility-mechanism in the policy design to ensure it is strictly carried out.

Source：Xinhua News Agency