Decree-Law No. 61/2022 approving the School Feeding Programme.

This Decree-Law, approves the School Feeding Programme (Merenda Escolar), through the allocation of a subsidy within the scope of school social action, intended to ensure the right to a daily meal with healthy, balanced and essential food for child development and to encourage the participation of children to attend public, private or cooperative pre-school education and basic education institutes. It covers institutes, as long as they are integrated into the State's public supply network, located in national territory, in order to promote their teaching and learning process. In particular, the School Feeding Programme aims to achieve the following objectives: a) Ensuring that all children who attend pre-school and basic education institutes have a daily meal with healthy, balanced and essential food contents; b) Reduce the risk of poverty in school-age children; c) Reduce the rate of malnutrition of school-age children; d) Reduce the dropout rate; e) Promoting healthy eating habits among educational communities; f) Promote the participation and socio-economic development of communities in the construction of a sustainable development policy; g) Contribute to the economic development of local farmers; h) Promote territorial cohesion.