Cabinet approves National School Nutrition Policy

The National School Nutrition Policy has been approved by the Cabinet.

Education, Skills and Information Minister, Dr Dana Morris Dixon, made the disclosure at Wednesday’s post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.

She said the long-awaited policy was given the greenlight by Cabinet, and will be tabled shortly in the House of Representatives.

“We will be tabling it in the Houses of Parliament as a white paper, and this policy has been in train for a long time,” the minister stated.

“I’m so very happy… that we are finally at this point where we can bring to Jamaica the National School Nutrition Policy, which will change the way our children get their meals in schools and the entire apparatus around school nutrition,” Morris Dixon elaborated.

The policy aims to promote healthy eating and physical activities in schools, particularly among students.

It also proposes to restrict access to, and marketing of, unhealthy foods in and around the school environment.

With the implementation of the policy, students are to be offered food options that meet nutritional standards and guidelines, thereby improving their nutritional status and, consequently, their physical, mental and social health as they grow.

Last October, approximately two years after consultation on the policy was completed, more than 200 students from across the island signed an open letter to the Education Ministry calling for urgency in its finalisation and implementation.