The „Healthy Meal” programme plays an important role in preventing school dropout and ensuring quality education in rural areas – as well as in disadvantaged environments or for disadvantaged individuals, Education and Research Minister Daniel David said on Friday.

In his opinion, the „Healthy Meal” programme should be extended in the future.

„In rural education, when children are concentrated in more complex school structures – which should be done when the villages of a commune are not far apart – top facilities can be provided, and quality human resources can be brought in, both contributing to the educational act as it should be (as we saw in Farcasa). In other rural areas, the rural campus model remains a suitable option. The Healthy Meal programme, which plays an important role in preventing school dropout and ensuring quality education in rural areas (and generally in disadvantaged environments/for disadvantaged individuals), should be extended in the future,” the minister wrote on Facebook.

According to him, in urban areas, where higher concentrations of children are natural or easier to achieve, the partnership with local authorities for quality education must be strengthened.

The minister believes that the rural campus model remains a suitable option in certain rural areas.

„I have encouraged the use of the Edulib platform (https://roedulib.ro/), where the first 3,700 digital lessons can facilitate the educational act at the middle school level, thus reducing educational opportunity gaps in our education system,” David said.

The minister paid visits this week to educational institutions in Bucharest, Maramures, Sibiu, Cluj-Napoca and Satu Mare.

AGERPRES