China gifts rice to Lankan schoolchildren

Forty four containers full of rice were gifted by the people of China to support the struggling local school meal programme.

The containers with 1,000 metric tonnes of rice were handed over to the Education Ministry here, an official from the Chinese Embassy in Colombo said.

China plans to gift a total of 10,000 metric tonnes of rice to 7900 schools across the country to provide nutritious meals to 1.1 million children daily, for six months.

Another two shipments of rice donation will arrive next week and the week after, the official said.

“The vulnerable populations, especially children from low-income families, are suffering the most due to the ongoing economic crisis. China will try all-out efforts to sustain the school meal programme for at least six months,” the official said.