The Ministers of "Health" and "Education" are discussing ways of cooperation to provide healthy meals for school students
Dr. Hala Zayed, Minister of Health and Population, Dr. Tarek Shawky, Minister of Education, and Major General Taymour Moussa, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Silo Foods, held a meeting, today, Monday, at the General Office of the Ministry of Health and Population, to discuss ways of cooperation to provide healthy meals for school students in accordance with the directives of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Fattah el-Sisi.
This came in the presence of Dr. Mohamed Hassani, Assistant Minister of Health and Population for Public Health Initiatives, Major General Wael Al-Saei, Assistant Minister for Financial and Administrative Affairs, Dr. Wael Abdel Razek, Head of the Basic Care and Nursing Sector, and Dr. Nevin Al-Nahhas, Head of the Central Administration for Technical Support and Director of the Minister’s Technical Office.
The meeting discussed the main axes of improving the healthy nutrition of school students to treat and prevent diseases resulting from malnutrition, by providing students with meals, which represent more than 25% of their daily needs, according to the recommendations of the World Health Organization.
The Minister of Health and Population reviewed the basic specifications of the school meal, which includes providing different types of meals according to the health determinants of students, based on the results of the President of the Republic’s initiative for early detection of anemia, obesity and stunting for school students under the slogan “100 million health”, to ensure that every student receives nutrients necessary for his state of health, noting that the initiative contributes to working a methodology to reach all groups and direct useful meals to them according to a scientific, health and medical system.
The Minister pointed out that the National Institute of Nutrition at the Ministry of Health has determined the components of school meals produced by Silo Foods, one of the strong arms of the National Service Projects Organization in the Armed Forces, according to the health parameters of different age groups of school students.
The Minister stressed the importance of raising awareness among parents to familiarize them with the various nutrients that must be included in the children's meal during the day, by intensifying awareness campaigns directed at them, to instill the foundations of a healthy daily diet in families.
During the meeting, the Minister also recommended the necessity of providing healthy foods within the food outlets in schools, as well as providing outlets for selling food in the vicinity of schools and public places to provide healthy and safe foods for various groups of society in cooperation with the Silo Foods Company, which will lead the locomotive of a culture of healthy nutrition in Egypt, as well as cooperation With the relevant ministries to improve the quality of food products for Egyptian families to establish a sound health system for community members.
The minister added that a campaign will be launched to conduct medical examinations for teachers in schools as part of public health initiatives, and to provide free treatment, in addition to intensifying health awareness for them with meals and nutrients necessary for their health, which contributes to making the educational system based on a healthy life for students and teachers.
The Minister also discussed ways of cooperation between the Ministry of Health and Silo Foods in providing the necessary meals for children suffering from various genetic diseases, and making them available through the centers for the treatment of genetic diseases at the level of the Republic.
The Minister of Health and Population, Tarek Shawky, Minister of Education and Technical Education, congratulated the success of holding the high school exams, praising his efforts in advancing the education sector in accordance with modern technological methods, and thanked him for his fruitful cooperation in making the Egyptian Knowledge Bank available to establish the e-learning platform in the Egyptian Fellowship, as well as About allocating 70% of the content of the Knowledge Bank in the medical field, and confirmed that all those involved in the educational process (teachers, administrators, workers) are being vaccinated with the Corona virus vaccine before the start of the new school year to protect all members of the educational process from the risk of infection with the virus.
For his part, Dr. Tariq Shawky, Minister of Education and Technical Education, explained that the school feeding program covers all kindergarten and primary school students for the age group from 4 to 12 years in schools, and also includes the most needy areas, governorates and remote areas in some governorates, for more than 24 million students. .
Shawky stressed the ministry’s keenness to maintain the security and safety of its schoolchildren, in implementation of the political leadership’s directives to intensify control and supervision procedures, apply health requirements for school feeding, and assign the relevant ministries among themselves; To provide school meals characterized by security, safety, diversity, the availability of health conditions, and nutritional needs, with an emphasis on quality, and the implementation of the school feeding plan for the new school year, in accordance with international nutrition standards, as well as educational standards.
The Minister of Education pointed out that the ministry will work to exploit the educational channels (Our School 1), (Our School 2) in intensifying awareness about healthy, useful eating, and healthy meals appropriate for the appropriate age group, according to the "100 Million Health" database. He also stressed the importance of cooperation with The Ministry of Health is preparing units within the curriculum to introduce proper healthy nutrition and the body’s needs of proteins, vitamins and fats, pointing out the need to exploit roofs and fences inside schools, and that the smart classroom model is designed in a way that suits outlets selling healthy school meals in a form and design that attracts students.
The Minister of Education and Technical Education also thanked Dr. Hala Zayed, Minister of Health and Population, for her efforts in upgrading the organization
He also thanked the minister for her keenness to provide coronavirus vaccines to the supervisors of high school exams, praising the fruitful cooperation between the Ministries of Health and Education with the aim of providing an integrated school meal with nutrients for the physical and mental development of students, taking into account Full specifications and standards for food safety.
For his part, Major General Taymour Moussa, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Silo Foods, confirmed that the company has a strong strategic vision to produce meals for school students according to the required specifications and without affecting the local market, praising the link between proper nutrition for school students with the health and treatment map in Egypt for the first time to build a system Healthy and safe food for community members.