Milking strength into children

PPF held an international conference to highlight its project of providing free of cost milk to school children.

ISLAMABAD: In a bid to highlight its project of providing free of cost milk to school children, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPF) held an international conference here on Thursday. The Rs22 million pilot project, titled ‘School Milk Programme’ provided milk to 6000 school children of Rasulpur, Rahim Yar Khan District, on a daily basis.

Hoping to gather support from national and international donor agencies, corporate organisations and government sector, PPAF aims to expand the programme on a national level.

The idea behind the initiative is to improve the mental and physical growth of school going children. The organisation claimed that through their effort in Rasulpur, the children’s attendance, performance in studies and school enrolment witnessed a positive change.

Speaking on the occasion, Federal Education Minister Sardar Aseff Ahmed Ali said, “It is appreciable that scarce resources and services are being provided to the underprivileged segments of the society.”

Similarly, Rashid Bajwa from National Rural Support Programme said 24 per cent of the population in Pakistan was undernourished. “Due to lack of access to healthy food, they do not get essential nutrients like protein, calcium and iodine.”

Bajwa further said that according to World Health Organisation, 40 per cent of the population of Pakistan was below the age of five years. “And most of them do not get proper education or healthy diet. They are the next generation of this country. We should be more attentive to their needs,” he added.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2010.