Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, at the very outset, let me apprise the House that the Enhanced Meal Programme in Zone D’Education Prioritaire Schools, is not only a humane exercise, it is also a powerful tool to address educational equity and social empowerment.

69 I am informed that my Ministry provides Enhanced Meals to 5,292 pupils in the 24 ZEP Schools. With regard to part (a) of the question, I am tabling the list of suppliers who are involved in the provision of these Enhanced Meals along with the terms and conditions of their contractual obligations. As for part (b) of the question, I wish to inform the House that there are several measures to ensure quality control over the meals being served to the 5,292 pupils in the 24 ZEP Schools. For example, each ZEP school has a Monitoring Committee, composed of both teaching and non-teaching personnel responsible for overseeing the quality of the meals provided. Distribution of meals to pupils takes place only when the headmaster has personally certified the standard of the food. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, however, while the vision is clear, I must acknowledge that the execution of those quality control measures has not always kept pace with ambition. An Internal Audit Report dated 08 October 2024 revealed serious lapses in the performance of certain service providers, these included – • repeated breaches of contract; • complaints over meal quality, and • unjustifiable delays in delivery, failures that are wholly unacceptable. It is also to be noted that over the past years, the Ministry has on various occasions been unsuccessful in finalising a comprehensive bidding exercise for the supply of the enhanced meals to all the four Education Zones. Pending the conclusions of a fresh procurement exercise, contracts are presently being extended on a month-to-month basis without price adjustments. An interim measure that has regrettably exposed the system to declining service quality due to inflationary pressures. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, these deficiencies were not only flagged internally, but were also echoed loudly at the recent Assises de l’Education. Let me assure the House that this Government will not condone mediocrity, certainly not when the well-being of our children is at stake. Accordingly, decisive corrective action has been already taken to control the quality of Enhanced Meals. A fresh open-national bidding exercise was launched last month for the

70 supply of Enhanced Meals across the four Zones for both the third term of the academic year 2025 and the full academic calendar of 2026. The evaluation of bids is on-going for the four Zones. Unlike in the past, this new procurement exercise is underpinned by rigorous performance benchmarks – • updated menus; • revised food preparation, and handling protocols; • a strict distribution guidelines, and • reinforce monitoring frameworks have all been embedded. Furthermore, all personnel deployed in these schools must present a valid Certificate of Character and a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point Certificate or ISO 22000 Certificate. I am tabling the terms and conditions of these new procurement exercises for 2025. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, since 2019, there was no significant increase in the budget for Enhanced Meal Programme. However, in the 2025-2026 Budget, provision has been made to increase the budget from Rs80 million to Rs120 million so that we do not compromise on the quality of meals provided to our 5,292 children in 24 ZEP Schools. Thank you.

Hon. Third Member for Beau Bassin and Petite Rivière! PUBLIC CONCERTS – EVENT ORGANISERS & ARTISTS – TERMS & CONDITIONS