Free school meals for Tavira school children until the end of year

The Municipality of Tavira will provide school meals free of charge, until December 31st of this year, to students of Pre-school and the 1st cycle schools in the municipality.

The measure is intended to “minimize the effects of this crisis on the people of Tavira,” says the Tavira municipality in a statement, adding that “the social and economic situation of families residing in the municipality, as well as the conditions in which children and young people attend the public school network is one of the concerns of the city”, therefore “the adoption of this measure hopes to help ease the difficulties felt in the households”.

The City Council provides school meals for 725 1st cycle students and for 215 pre-school children, having always guaranteed free access to children with greater socio-economic needs (172 from 1st cycle and 62 from pre-school), but there is now a need to extend this gratuity to all students.

The municipality has been implementing several measures and initiatives in order “to benefit the quality of the offer to the educational community, as well as to combat social inequalities, through the support provided to the most vulnerable families”.

“The refurnishment of school buildings, the focus on computerisation, modernisation and comfort in the classrooms, together with the improvement of the quality of the outdoor spaces are some of the incentives that have been completed by the municipality”, explains the municipality. To these are added others, such as “the offer of school materials to the 1st Cycle, the attribution of scholarships to university students and, also, the program Tavira – Active Holidays, which aims to take advantage of the free time of young people, guiding them towards the performance of socially useful activities”.

The municipality says that its major concern lies in “the constraints caused by the Covid-19 disease, namely, in relation to the increased social vulnerability of families, resulting from the direct impact on their income”, remaining alert, it will continue ” to provide all the necessary assistance for the well-being of families in the county”.

Original article available in Portuguese at http://postal.pt/