Government steps down, again : Halting distribution of “Repas Chaud” program in ZEP schools
Hello!
As per the “Repas Chaud” program, about Rs1500 per student is spent monthly in providing food in each ZEP school. The menu distributed included briani, noodles, fried rice and sometimes even dholl pourri. At the time of launch of this program, no restrictions or instructions were provided to caterers about the food and service they need to provide. Is the govt waiting for incidents to happen so that they can bring necessary amendments to improve, playing with the life of innocent students.
The food poisoning of 90 primary students in the west of the country after having consumed food distributed in their ZEP (Zone Education Prioritaire) school could have turned into a real chaos if the incident had more serious consequences. The permit and contrat to the caterer was immediately suspensed. Unfortunately, deeper analysis in the contents of food from other schools has revealed the presence of a bacteria (“E. coli”).
Yesterday, the Government has finally taken the decision to stop the distribution of “Repas, replacing the distributed food by …. bread, butter and cheese until suitable food caterers satisfying the following criteria are hired:
- Certified HACCP (Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points) ;
- Abiding to strict measures for preparation, transportation and distribution of food
- Only 300 dishes per caterer
Why the word “Again” in the title?
Do you remember the yellow vehicle license plates, fire extinguishers and the Permis à Points? Following the huge confusion and lack of professionalism shown towards the implementation of new license plates, the government finally had to remove any deadlines and nothing is communicated to add any more confusion.
The next big thing? I feel that the free distribution and use of tablets will also be stupidly done. Let’s see…
The country is clearly in wrong hands when you analyse the bad state of things since some months now. I find a big lack of vision and haste in implementing announced measures to prove that the Government is indeed working towards the well-being of the population.
Is there somewhere a fear that they are not working enough to satisfy the demands and needs?
