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BEIRUT, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) is again providing healthy and nutritious school food for over 10,000 Lebanese and Syrian students attending public schools across Lebanon, the UN agency said in a statement Wednesday.
It said that at primary schools, students receive juice or milk and a nutritious locally-baked snack such as herb bread or a muffin fortified with vitamins and micro nutrients.
The program, running for its second year, provides the energy students need to concentrate on their lessons and acts as an incentive for parents to send their children to school, according to the statement.
"I am delighted that such a large number of Lebanese and Syrian students are back to schools and receiving delicious and healthy snacks," said Dominik Heinrich, WFP Country Director in Lebanon.
WFP school meals are fully funded by the Italian Development Corporation and supported locally by the Italian Embassy in Beirut.
"Italy and WFP's school meals initiative supports the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education with the aim of developing sound minds for Lebanese and Syrian children," said Massimo Marotti, Italian Ambassador to Lebanon.
Schools that participate in the program are located in the most vulnerable communities across Lebanon, identified by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
In Lebanon, WFP monthly assists almost 700,000 of the most vulnerable Syrian and Palestinian refugees and Lebanese through electronic food vouchers with which they can purchase food from local markets.
Since 2013, WFP's food voucher program has injected more than 700 million U.S. dollars into the Lebanese economy.
