THE Ministry of Education has teamed up with Restaurant Associates Limited — operators of the Burger King, Popeyes, and Little Caesars franchises — and Restaurants of Jamaica Limited, operators of KFC, to provide meals to students on the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH).

The WYSINCO Group will also be providing cases of Freshhh Lite orange juice for the students.

A release from the ministry yesterday said Restaurant Associates will be assisting with the provision of snacks to the PATH students for six school days, from March 20 to March 27, 2020. The meals will comprise 24,000 KING SWISS sandwiches — with 4,000 being provided each day for six days.

Additionally, 64 cases of scholastic toys (12,800 units) will be donated for the week of March 23-27, 2020, the ministry said.

At the same time, the ministry said KFC will provide one meal — a one-piece box meal — for 600 PATH beneficiaries. These will be distributed equally among the ministry’s six regions — 100 meals per region, the ministry said.

KFC was also expected to provide the ministry with 600 vouchers for distribution yesterday. The ministry said regional directors would decide on the schools or students to benefit, as well as distribution points.

Karl Samuda, the minister with responsibility for education, has welcomed the outpouring of support from members of the private sector.

“We are thankful for this massive show of kindness. As a Government we know that it can be challenging for our most vulnerable to provide proper nutrition to students at this time. These partnerships will benefit thousands of our students,” said Samuda.

The Ministry of Education has also partnered with the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) to create distribution sites for the provision of meals for the students.

On the recommendation of ODPEM, with the support of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, all the main churches in each district in each parish will be used as distribution sites, the ministry said. These sites are referred to as the Adventist Development Relief Centres, it continued.

In the meantime, Nutrition Products Limited will continue to distribute their snacks of baked products, ready-made porridge, lactose-free milk, juice, and water to primary schools, the education ministry said.

“Deliveries will be sent to each drop-off point no more than twice per week. The distribution points will be the Adventist Development Relief Centres — the main church in each district of the Seventh-day Adventist and the schools, in some instances. The regional directors, in collaboration with principals, will decide on the final distribution point for each school,” the education ministry said.