The “Zero Hunger in Schools” initiative, submitted to the legislature by President Santiago Peña to benefit the student nutrition system, also undermines essential programs by eliminating the National Fund for Public Investment and Development (Fonacide), the newspaper pointed out.

In the midst of the uncertainty about the scope of the new bill, the newspaper added, the Executive ordered that the US$ 250 million annual compensation from Brazil for the Itaipu binational hydroelectric power plant will pay for school lunches, although resources for other programs such as Health and Scholarships will cease.

The project, which centralizes resources with the creation of the National School Food Fund (Fonae), concentrates all the money for these purposes in a single fund, centralizes the school lunch and hits the budget dedicated to these and other sectors, Última Hora explained.

According to the newspaper, Fonae’s resources will be in the hands of the Ministry of Social Development, which will concentrate all management, procurement and distribution of the resources destined to the governors’ offices, although it excludes the Ministry of Education and the mayors from the management of the money.

The Zero Hunger in Schools project provides universal school meals for about 1.5 million students for 180 days of the school year.

mh/jav/mem/apb