Free breakfast on menu for Cambodia school kids

By KER MUNTHIT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — The U.N. food agency is resuming free breakfasts for hundreds of thousands of poor Cambodian schoolchildren after securing new funds for a program suspended due to high food prices, the agency said Tuesday.

Under the revived scheme, 450,000 schoolchildren in the countryside will be fed meals in classes before starting their daily lessons.

The new school year started Oct. 1, and food distribution is now under way for students in 1,344 rural schools in 12 Cambodian provinces, said Bradley Busetto, acting director of the U.N. World Food Program in Cambodia.

The program costs about $9 million per year, or about $20 per child, he said, adding that its resumption was made possible by donors responding to a recent WFP appeal.

The WFP was forced to suspend the school meals program in Cambodia in May due to high food prices. Its local suppliers defaulted on contracts to provide rice because they could get higher prices elsewhere.

Busetto said he was still concerned about the impact of high food prices on Cambodia's poor.

But "at the moment, we've managed to resume and we're hopeful that we can maintain this program through the entire school year," he said. "We're very happy about that."

The breakfast includes rice, sardines, yellow split peas, vegetable oil and salt — food items to help alleviate nutritional deficiencies among the rural population.

Rural Cambodian school teachers said the program, which started in 2000, has made children visibly healthier and improved their ability to learn.

At Sangkum Seksa School, about 40 miles west of Phnom Penh, principal Tan Sak said he was waiting for the food deliveries.

"I have already told my students to bring their plates and spoons next time they come to classes," Tan Sak said by telephone. "They are delighted."