The cabinet wants to offer students free school meals for another year and is allocating 166 million euros for this. This is confirmed by a source in The Hague after reporting by RTL News. The extension will be officially announced on Prinsjesdag.
About 1,300 schools are offering free meals to vulnerable primary and secondary school students with government support, the Red Cross reported in March. That equates to one in six schools.
The scheme is intended for schools where 30 percent of pupils or more come from low-income families. Students in special education are also eligible for this.
Schools can choose to provide their own meals or to give their students cards to take home with which their parents can go shopping. Most schools have opted for the former option.
The government started financing school meals in March and has spent 100 million euros on this this year. This was done at the request of the House of Representatives. A motion by VOLT and D66 on this subject was widely supported.
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