The Honourable Minister of Education Ms. Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers has given the assurance that the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School (ALHCS) Cafeteria will be opened in January 2024.
For the benefit of those students of the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School who would wish to be fed lunch in the school’s cafeteria, the question was asked of the Minister of Education during the last Government Press Conference on Monday 16th October, 2023, what priority is being placed on the school’s cafeteria opening.
Minister of Education, Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers, responded: “During the last budget exercise we approved a couple hundred thousand dollars to commission the cafeteria at the school. This will take place in January of next year as school reopens.”
The Minister said that letters of interest have already gone out to persons who would be contracted to provide lunch at the cafeteria.
The concern was that the traffic load in the vicinity of the school during the lunch hour is quite heavy. The commissioning of the cafeteria would, to a great extent, alleviate the congestion of traffic to and from the school grounds during the lunch hour when parents drive in and out for the purpose of providing lunch for their children.
“We have been working hand in hand with a number of our partners in getting the operations of the cafeteria going,” the Minister said. “As you know, currently we have engaged vendors at the site, so as not to have all students leaving the school compound.”
“However,” the Minister said, “the traffic situation is rather difficult to control at the moment, because naturally you will have parents who will pick up their children for lunch. That is the normal. Not every child will be staying in school during the lunch period. But for those who do choose to stay in school for lunch at this time, vendors are available until the cafeteria comes online.”
When asked if vendors would be still allowed to be on the property when the cafeteria come online, The Minister answered: “It is not the plan to have the vendors on site when the cafeteria opens. We have started the process of creating a nutrition plan for our students in partnership with our school nurses. This is similar to what we did at the primary school level.”
She mentioned that the nutrition plan for the school lunch programme will ensure the students are eating healthily.
