A School feeding programme for students attending the Trafalgar Primary School has been assured with the construction of a modern school cafeteria.
This project compliments the Ministry of Education’s policy that only healthy eating must take place at schools.
Work on that project began in March this year and was funded by Japanese Government under Japan’s Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project (GGP).
On Tuesday October, 29th 2013, the keys to the school cafeteria were formally handed over to principal of the Trafalgar Primary School, Doreen Watt, during a handing over ceremony.
The school cafeteria features a kitchen and dining area, and is equipped with a freezer, cooker and other essential amenities.
Watt in accepting the keys said the availability of the cafeteria is in keeping with the child friendly concept recently adopted by the school.
“One of the things that we wanted to do as a child friendly school was to provide an area where our children would sit comfortably to have their nutritious meals prepared in that same building,” she stated.
She said with this project the will enhance the school’s feeding programme and will provide nutritional food for its students who might not have been able to access it.
Meanwhile Japanese Ambassador, Yoshimasa Tezuka said the Japanese government was pleased to support the project.
“Last January, the Embassy of Japan signed a grant contract with Mrs. Doreen Watt, Principal of the Trafalgar Primary School. From that moment on, we actively pursued the completion of the project. Today we can see the fruits of our labor with the successful completion of the new cafeteria.”
Minister for Education and Human Resource Development, Petter Saint-Jean said the cafeteria is expected “to improve the nutritional status of the children resulting in improved student performance in a child friendly environment.
He thanked the principal of the school for seeing this important project come to fruition.
“The Trafalgar Primary school is demonstrating in a very practical way here today that it is possible for us to achieve the goal of every child succeeding. Mrs. Watt, the principal of the school and her staff through this project has demonstrated to us that we are able to embrace initiatives and I want to commend you Mrs. Watt and your staff for being innovative and creative and actually searching diligently and finding sources of funding for the project,” he noted.
Parliamentary Representative for the Roseau Valley, Dr.John Collin Mc Intyre officially thanked the Government of Japan for providing such an important facility to the school.
“Ambassador, I would like to take a special time off here to really thank you and your Government for really considering the Roseau Valley and the Government of Dominica in making this facility available to us. We will cherish it, the children, the teachers will take care of it because it is something that we really wanted and we have it now and it is up to us to really take charge of it,” he stated.
Mc Intyre urged the parents, who will serve as cooks at the school, to provide healthy snack and lunch options for their children.
Given the prevalence of unhealthy eating habits among school aged children, he stressed that emphasis must be placed on eating what we grow and growing what will be eaten by the school children.
“In terms of food and nutrition, we pride ourselves as a Government in speaking all the time about eating what we grow. You have heard the Prime Minister on a number of occasions talking about chronic non communicable diseases and this is the age we have to start at, our young people, we have to train them to eat right,” the Roseau Valley MP stressed.
The school cafeteria project was constructed at a cost of US $36,240.
How can someone in the U.S. donate to the school???
Admin, may we have some photos please?
Thanks.
Is this the Japanese last project in Domimica since they are closing their office here in December?
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)Dominica Office is closing but Japanese programs in Dominica will continue.
The responsibilities of this office will be undertaken by their regional office in Dominican Republic.
proud of u momma…hats off…I pray that all works well.
This story brings a smile to my face. I’ve witnessed the personal sacrifice of time, resources and effort that has gone into the cafeteria. Congratulations Trafalgar and Mrs. Watt.
Good job indeed!
Congrats to all who made it possible..Now I call for reduced sugar intake and less salt in foods. Please serve our children water and milk, and fruits available at the given times. Please encourage them to eat local which will reduce our import bills.
Good luck
Great job. Hats off to Mrs. Watt and her team for such an initiative.