Barcelona Mum

City Council to cover costs of free school meals
During a visit to Ítaca school in Les Corts, Mayor Jordi Hereu announced that Barcelona City Council would increase finance for free school meals by a value of five times.The major investment to extend the grants to schoolchildren in the city will be in conjunction with the Education Department of the Catalan Generalitat. The Mayor of Barcelona, who commented that education was "one of the most important areas to build a country and a tool for social cohesion", considered the measure a major opportunity for "education for all."

Hereu: "School canteens are part of education"
According to Hereu, school canteens were part of education as they were social areas for reflection, and as such should always be taken into consideration. The call for subsidy applications, managed by the Barcelona Education Authority, will be published April or May. The City Council will determine the criteria for awarding subsidies, and their designation, for all students in the city. The criteria include family income, the size of the family, foster children, children with disabilities and single-parent families. With this measure, the City Council plans to cover the demand, whereas last year, almost 4,000 families did nor receive subsidies for school meals. For the 2007-2008 school year, the City Council received 3 million euros from the Catalan government, while it invested 600 thousand, to cover the applications from more than 7,000 families.

Budget of 7 million euros
When the measure comes into force for the 2008-2009 school year, the council will invest more than 3 million euros, such that the total investment by public administration will be 7 million euros.This will cover the needs of the more than 11,000 families in Barcelona who apply for school meal subsidies (31.01.08)