The Provincial Director of Education, Elena Fernández Treviño, has announced that the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports (MEFPyD), and its department have worked “intensively” so that the new school canteen contracts are ready and in operation from September, coinciding with the start of the next school year.
In an interview with Televisión Melilla, Fernández Treviño explained that, after a complex process of tender and technical evaluation, the objective is for the CEIP Encarna León to join the CEIP León Solá and the CEE Reina Sofía, expanding the network of centers that offer this essential service for many families. “Our idea is to do a study so that next year we can offer this service in all primary schools,” he said.
In the case of the CEE Reina Sofía, he has highlighted that all students enrolled will access the dining scholarship directly, automatically after applying for it. “All the students of that center are going to have the free dining room,” he said.
In addition, he has valued the new facilities of the dining room of the CEIP Encarna León, which he described as “wonderful, new and brand new”, and has pointed out that around 300 applications have already been received for this center. “It is very good news that all schools are joining these canteens,” he said.
School canteens and conciliation reinforcement
The Provincial Director stressed that the intention of the Ministry is that, after this new impetus, it will be possible to move towards a universal model of school dining in all primary schools in Melilla.
From this September, the dining rooms of the CEIP Encarna León, the CEIP León Solá, the CEE Reina Sofía, along with the CEIP Mediterráneo and the CEIP Hipodromo, and also La Salle or the Enrique Soler, in addition to the CEIP Reyes Católica will be operational.
In the words of Fernández Treviño, “conciliation is very important. If we can help families with the school canteen, afternoon activities and open centers, we do them a big favor.”
Although he has recognized that the main objective of schools is educational, he has pointed out that school canteens are a key tool for family inclusion and reconciliation, especially in a city with the socioeconomic characteristics of Melilla.
In this regard, he also highlighted the involvement of the PROA+ Program, which allows the opening of centers in the afternoon with complementary and reinforcing activities, as well as other territorial cooperation programs aimed at improving competences such as literacy and mathematics, which will be extended next year.
Healthy and controlled eating
Regarding the new contracts, the highest representative of the Ministry of Education in the city has stressed that the award process includes all the requirements of healthy eating laws, with balanced menus, previously informed to families and elaborated under professional supervision:
“We have a very controlled structure in every way so that families can be very confident that the food they are going to make there is healthy, nutritious and with all the supplements required by law,” he said.
He has also stressed the importance of having specialized companies capable of supplying high-volume canteens, and has advanced that the contracting tables have already been established so that services can begin normally in September. “We have worked hard to ensure that the times are adjusted and the service is offered from the beginning of the course. That’s our idea and commitment,” he concluded.