Students getting school meals on time again

Primary school students appear to be getting their school meals delivered on time again, the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) and workers at the School Meals Department (SMD) have reported.

The SMD employees said that after weeks of delivering the lunches late because equipment challenges had delayed food preparation, they were able to get meals to students in time for their noon lunch break last week.

BUT president Rudy Lovell also confirmed that the union had not received any recent reports of late lunches.

The disclosure on Monday came a week and a half after Barbados TODAY reported that faulty equipment, poor working conditions and a shortage of vehicles at the SMD were the main factors contributing to thousands of students getting their lunches up to two hours late.

“There were no late lunches for the entire week last week. After the article was published, that same weekend technicians came and worked on the commercial kitchen steam kettles,” said one of the workers.

“We are glad they fixed them because we did not have the pressure we were accustomed to having, and in terms of the flow of work, this made things so much easier. We didn’t have to use one of the kettles and then turn round and wash it out and reuse; we got to utilise all the kettles because all were working. But we haven’t heard anything about new equipment.”

The workers’ complaints had come on the heels of calls from the BUT and the Association of Public Primary School Principals for authorities to explain why school meals were being delivered late since the start of the term.

As it relates to the shortage of vehicles, the workers said that this was not an issue since “once the food is done on time, it will work out”.

Meanwhile, Lovell said he was pleased the nation’s children were being fed on time.

“Since the last interview we would have had over a week ago, I have not received any complaints from my members regarding the late delivery of school meals, especially in the southern area,” the BUT president said.

“We are elated because it is our belief that our intervention via the media would have contributed to the improvement in the delivery of school meals.”

Meanwhile, the workers said they were still waiting for management to update them on when the new school meals facility in Farm Gardens, St Philip would be completed and when they would report for duty there.

“We keep waiting, we keep waiting and we keep waiting, but still we know nothing.

“A lot of the excavator fans aren’t working at all and the heat is very uncomfortable. They [management] brought in the big [industrial] fans but they sent off a lot of hot air too. So this is one of the reasons we can’t wait to move out of here,” a worker told Barbados TODAY.

Efforts to reach Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training, Betty Alleyne-Headley were unsuccessful up to press time.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb