The government has launched the School Milk Scheme for the scholastic year 2020-2021, which has a €441,000 budget.

The School Milk Scheme is administered by the Agriculture and Rural Payments Agency (ARPA), within Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Animal Rights (MAFA), in collaboration with the National School Support Services, within the Ministry for Education (MFED), and the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Department, within the Ministry for Health (MFH). This scheme is co-financed by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and the Maltese Government.

Agriculture Minister Anton Refalo said that the scheme's main aim is for children to better understand the positive contribution of fresh milk to their diets.

The scheme this year will be different due to Covid-19, and thus instead a voucher system is being used. As a result, children who partecipate will receive double the portions of milk they received in past years.

Education Minister Justyne Caruana said that promoting a healthy lifestyle is part of education.

Participating school children will receive a set of vouchers which may be redeemed for one portion of 500ml of Benna fresh milk 2.5% fat per week. These vouchers will be colour-coded by month in order to clearly indicate during which month they will be valid and can be exchanged at all grocers and supermarkets across Malta and Gozo Vouchers for other months will continue to be distributed.

 

This scheme is a voluntary one for children aged 3 - 11 who attend primary schools administered or recognised by the Education Ministry.

 

Eligible children received an electronic registration form from their schools.