Image Credit: The News Paper
Recess@Home is a ground-up partnership between the Ministry of Education (MOE), CFS and community donors, to provide meal subsidies for needy students during full Home-Based Learning (HBL).
This community-initiated programme supported students whose families were adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as unexpected loss of income. These students received the same amount of meal subsidies as their peers who are on MOE Financial Assistance Scheme under the extended School Meals Programme, during the full HBL period.
CFS announced in May that up to $300,000 will be committed to extend the Recess@Home programme until the end of the circuit breaker in June.
This came up to $80 each for primary school students and $120 each for secondary school students. The subsidies were disbursed via top-ups to the students’ School Smartcard which students could use to purchase food and essential groceries at some hawker centres, food courts, minimarts, convenience stores and supermarkets.
CFS will continue to provide meal subsidies to students on the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS), Independent School Bursary and Special Education FAS throughout the circuit breaker period, given “exceptional circumstances” this year.
To date, CFS has collaborated with MOE to support about 27,000 students in primary, secondary, junior college and Special Education (SPED) schools, with about $950,000 in funding.
The S R Nathan Education Upliftment Fund also partnered with CFS to provide meals for underprivileged ITE students who found themselves out of jobs during the pandemic through the Recess@Home programme.
