Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday instructed government agencies to immediately begin providing daily hot meals to primary school students in six districts, with the idea of making the project nationwide at a later stage, the daily Al Ahram reported.
The president’s move coincided with Egypt’s celebrations of the October victory over Israel in 1973.
It is anticipated that about 400,000 students will benefit from the meals, which will be prepared by the ministry of agriculture, added the paper.
“Three factories are being constructed now in the districts of Menya, Bani Swaif and Qalyoubiyyah to prepare these meals,” the ministry’s nutrition project director, Zainab Hanafi, told the daily, adding that each factory would cost four million pounds.
The project director pointed out that each meal would include 500 calories and all the vitamins needed by students on a daily basis for building their physical and mental capacities - Albawaba.com
