Enriched biscuits for 300,000 pupils
Sari P. Setiogi, Jakarta
About 300,000 elementary school students in the country, particularly those who live in conflict areas, will soon be given a daily ration of 50 grams of enriched biscuits at school, as part of the UN World Food Program's (WFP) three-year plan to help the government alleviate malnutrition in the country, the WFP disclosed on Sunday.
According to WFP's country director Mohamed Saleheen, teachers will distribute the biscuits directly to pupils, who must eat them in class.
The program will start in August, and by the year's end it is expected that 300,000 students will have benefited from it.
"For Rp 2,000 (U.S. 19 cents) we can provide one child with fortified biscuits that will energize them at school," he said.
Saleheen said children in Poso, Central Kalimantan, Maluku, North Maluku, West Kalimantan, Aceh and East Nusa Tenggara would be the main recipients of the additional food. During the peak of conflicts in the areas, more than 1.4 million people were forced to flee their homes.
"Attendance rates and student performance can be increased significantly by the availability of extra food at school. Children no longer need to worry about food and can concentrate more on their lessons -- and stay for the whole session," said Saleheen, after officiating a fund-raising program in Jakarta.
Together with TNT Indonesia Express and Logistics, the WFP organized a walk on Sunday, in which more than 500 people participated.
"All the money raised from the walk will be used to help Indonesian children. So it will be an activity supported by Indonesians, for Indonesians," said managing director of TNT Indonesia, Colin Moran.
According to Saleheen, the biscuits for the students are locally produced.
"Other programs we run here are to provide raskin (cheap rice) for the poor. At the moment, we are helping some 1.7 people in slum areas," Saleheen told The Jakarta Post.
The WFP will also provide nutritious meals for expecting mothers, he said. Those programs, as well as the school feeding program, will continue until 2007.
When the Post left the event at about 10 a.m., the money raised had reached Rp 76 million and a higher figure was expected.
"We are hoping that this year we can help between 200,000 and 300,000 new children for the whole year in Indonesia," said Moran.
According to the National Economic Survey held by the Central Statistic Agency (BPS), malnutrition among children under the age of five reached about 27 percent in 2002, among the highest in the Asia-Pacific region, along with Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.
Under its three-year plan, the WFP will implement a $115.36 million project called the Assistance to Recovery and Nutritional Rehabilitation program.