The Ministry of Education (MOE) will be extending meal subsidies to all primary and secondary students on MOE's Financial Assistance Scheme during the full home-based learning (HBL) period from April 8 to May 4, 2020.
According to a press release, this provision is regardless of whether these students return to school during full HBL.
Primary school students to receive S$80, secondary school students to receive S$120
Primary school students on financial assistance will receive S$60 each, while secondary school students on financial assistance will receive a total of S$120 each.
This subsidy amount is similar to the amount primary and secondary school students on financial assistance would have received if there were lessons as usual in school.
However, primary school students will receive an additional support of S$20 from the Sayang Sayang Fund during this circuit breaker period, bringing the total amount of money they will receive to S$80.
MOE will disburse the school meal subsidies via two top-ups to eligible students’ School Smartcard, which can be used to purchase food and essential groceries at some hawker centres, food courts, minimarts, convenience stores and supermarkets.
Starting from April 14, students can redeem the extended meal subsidies at any TransitLink Add Value Machine once every two weeks.
All in all, the extension of the meal subsidies amounts to about S$4.5 million and will benefit around 45,000 students.
Education minister affirms move
On April 13, Education minister Ong Ye Kung took to Facebook to affirm this move, pointing out that when schools close and move to full HBL, the group that is most worrisome are "students from vulnerable backgrounds."
Ong added that "many of them still come to school for their ‘HBL’ under the supervision of teachers" and pointed out that these needy students depend on schools for a "conducive learning environment", on top of basic needs such as "having their meals."
You can view his full post here:
Image via Ong Ye Kung on Facebook
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Top image via Ong Ye Kung on Facebook, for illustrative purposes