Minister Musa Al-Maqrif of Education held talks on Tuesday with the Country Director of the World Food Program (WFP), Maysaa Al-Ghribawy, which focused on localizing school feeding programs in Libya.

A statement by the ministry said the two sides discussed cooperation between Libya's Education Ministry and the World Food Organization to localize the school feeding program under a memorandum of understanding signed between the two sides.

They also agreed to increase the number of education facilities benefiting from the project by including schools in the southern region, starting from the next academic year.

For his part, Al-Maqrif affirmed the ministry's endeavor to establish a tangible project for school feeding.

Healthy meals allow children to focus in class and grow, the minister said, suggesting that dates be a main ingredient in the school meal.

Al-Maqrif noted that the ministry had previously submitted a proposal to establish three factories for school meals in the oases and Tmanhent districts, as these areas are well-known for palm cultivation and date production.

On her part, Al-Ghribawy congratulated Libya's Education Ministry on joining the School Feeding Alliance, which according to the WFP official, "aims to ensure that every child has the opportunity to eat a healthy and nutritious meal in educational institutions by 2030."

This could be done by improving the quality of nationally owned school meal programs and strengthening school meal systems globally," the WFP representative said.