State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Bobby Hajjaj said Bangladesh will gradually expand the school meal programme to all government primary schools to ensure nutritious food for every primary student. He made the announcement on Sunday at his office in the Secretariat during a courtesy meeting with World Food Programme Bangladesh Country Director and Resident Representative Koko Ushiyama.

The meeting covered programme expansion, nutritious food provision, the possibility of piloting cooked hot meals, effective monitoring and stronger digital management. Hajjaj said transparency, accountability and technology-based monitoring are crucial for successful implementation. He also stressed separate needs-based planning that accounts for differences between urban and rural areas, geographical diversity and socioeconomic conditions. Participants discussed India’s school meal experience and its relevance to Bangladesh’s social and cultural context.

Ushiyama said school meals support nutrition while helping improve attendance, prevent dropout, enhance education quality and build healthy eating habits. She noted that WFP has achieved positive results in various countries by linking school meals with school gardens, nutrition education and local agricultural systems. The two sides also discussed WFP technical support to improve the Directorate of Primary Education’s existing integrated primary education information system and develop a future integrated information system.