August 28 will forever be remembered by the citizens.  His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik on Sunday took a historic decision to offer 59,000 students from low-income families studying in government schools with daily meals, while they will also be provided with essential school supplies before the academic year begins on September 4.

According to the details received from the Ministry of Social Development, a one-time OMR 25 will be disbursed for each eligible student to cover school supplies. Meanwhile, OMR 11-worth vouchers will be provided to each student to purchase daily meals. Each coupon will carry a value of 500 baisas to cover a total of 22 school days each month. A record OMR 4,073,070 has been approved by the Ministry of Finance towards the scheme this year.

“This is a landmark decision by His Majesty and this will go a long way. Improving the quality of life has been the aim from the time His Majesty came to power,” said Dr. Abdullah bin Khamis Ambusaidi, Undersecretary for Education at the Ministry of Education, while speaking to The Arabian Stories.

Providing quality life, better education and healthcare is part of good governance and it will have a huge impact on the people especially the students who are the leaders of tomorrow.

The daily meal scheme is a very ambitious and popular program followed by many countries. We have seen similar decisions across the world including India and the United Kingdom. India provides hot meals to an estimated 120 million students every school day. According to health experts, the potential impacts that a daily school meal could have is long. Research studies show daily meals in school can improve a child’s physical, mental health, learning, attendance and engagement level.

For the citizens of Oman, this scheme should be a source of national pride.

About the Author: Nishad Padiyarath is the Chief Executive Officer of The Arabian Stories. He can be reached at ceo@thearabianstories.com.