Secretary-General Lu Mai delivered a speech at the Symposium on Nutrition Improvement Program for Rural Compulsory Education Students

On April 26, 2016, the Symposium on Nutrition Improvement Program for Rural Compulsory Education Students was held in Yinchuan, Ningxia. Vice Premier of the State Council Liu Yandong, Minister of Education Yuan Guiren, Secretary of CPC Ningxia Committee and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Li Jianhua, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Chairman of the People's Government of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Liu Hui attended the symposium. Secretary-General of the CDRF Lu Mai delivered a speech, entitled “Canteens of rural schools are also an important battlefield in our fight against poverty”, pointing out the importance of balanced nutrition of students to eliminate poverty. He also used the analysis released on the website of the School Nutrition Improvement Initiative to illustrate the importance of policy enforcement, evaluated the impact of the program and pointed out how schools should ensure the basic nutritional needs of students are met. At the end of his speech, Lu offered four suggestions and put forward a proposal to expand the scope of the program to 100,000 pilot schools in 699 counties.

Vice Premier Liu Yandong emphasized in this speech the role of the website of the program and other third-party platforms in monitoring and evaluating the program. He pointed out that such platforms should be utilized to ensure that all students have access to balanced nutrition.