(BSS) - State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Bobby Hajjaj has said the main objective of the school feeding programme is to ensure that no child of primary-school age remains outside educational institutions.

"Children aged between four and 10 years-from pre-primary to Class V-must not be left out of school," he said.

The state minister made the remarks while addressing as chief guest an orientation programme for head teachers and a discussion on the Feeding Programme in Government Primary Schools for Improving the Quality of Primary Education at the auditorium of Chattogram Primary Teachers Training Institute (PTI) this afternoon.

Bobby said the government has undertaken a number of initiatives to achieve the goal of ensuring universal primary education. The ongoing pilot project, currently known as the `School Feeding` programme, will eventually be renamed the `Mid-Day Meal` programme.

"The programme is intended to encourage parents to send their children to school. When children arrive at school, they should be provided with nutritious food," he said.

The state minister said a comprehensive school feeding or mid-day meal programme would be launched from January next year, under which nutritious food would be provided to around 1.1 crore primary school students every school day.

He said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has ambitious plans for the education sector and that the government is increasing allocations for education. Within four months of taking office, the government has raised education expenditure to 2 percent of GDP, with a long-term target of increasing it to 5 percent.

Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Zahidul Islam Miah chaired the programme. Divisional Commissioner Dr Md Ziauddin, Additional Director General of the Department of Primary and Mass Education Md Abdur Rahim, Project Director of the Feeding Programme in Primary Schools Md Abul Amin and Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education Rajib Kumar Sarkar, among others, addressed the event.

Later, Bobby Hajjaj took part in a question-and-answer session with the participating head teachers.

Head teachers of 110 government primary schools in Anwara Upazila of Chattogram, along with PTI officials, students and media representatives, attended the orientation.