Increase in transfers of school meals reaches 39%

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced an increase of up to 39% in the amount transferred by the federal government to states and municipalities to pay for school lunches in the public education network. The government’s estimate is to invest BRL 5.5 billion in the National School Feeding Program (PNAE) this year, an increase of approximately BRL 1.5 billion in relation to the previous budget. The readjustment, which had not been corrected for almost six years, was announced at an event with mayors this Friday afternoon (10), at the Planalto Palace. The measure will benefit around 40 million public school students. “Since 2017, school lunches have not increased. Today, we announce a 39% increase in the budget for primary and secondary education and a direct investment of BRL 5.5 billion, reaching 40 million public school students”, highlighted the president in a post on social networks. According to the government, the amount allocated per elementary and high school student will have a greater increase, of 39%, above the Extended Consumer Price Index (IPCA), an indicator of inflation in the period. In this range, most public school students are concentrated, 60.5%, totaling 24 million students. For the approximately 3.6 million pre-school and basic education students for indigenous peoples and quilombolas, the readjustment will be 35%. In the case of 11.7 million children in kindergartens, students in full-time schools, Youth and Adult Education (EJA) and specialized care, the correction will be 28%. Sustainable production “With this readjustment, sustainable production also gains, with incentives for the acquisition of diversified foodstuffs, produced locally, which will guarantee food of diversity for our children and adolescents”, observed the Minister of Agrarian Development and Family Agriculture , Paulo Teixeira. According to the PNAE, at least 30% of the resources must be used to purchase food from family farming. For the Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, the PNAE was one of the programs that helped Brazil get off the hunger map. He also announced the release, this week, of R$ 250 million from the National Education Development Fund (FNDE), an autarchy linked to the MEC, to continue the renovation and construction works of schools and kindergartens in municipalities. Next week, according to him, another R$ 350 million will be released for the same purpose.

Agência Brasil