SINGAPORE — About 12,000 students from low-income families will receive GrabFood e-vouchers to buy meals, under the newly-launched Student Meals Scheme by the Community Development Council (CDC).

In a media release on Tuesday (14 April), CDC said the aim of this new scheme is to help low-income families to defray the cost of buying meals while the students are on home-based learning (HBL) during the current circuit breaker period to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Specifically, it is targeted at primary and secondary school students living in units under the Public Rental Scheme.

Eligible students will each receive $55 worth of GrabFood e-vouchers (11 vouchers in $5 denomination) to order hot meals – such as chicken rice, nasi lemak and chappathi – from neighbouring merchants with a self pick-up option on the GrabFood app during the circuit breaker period.

The students can thus pre-order their meals and collect it when it is ready. This will help the students to avoid queues and limit their time spent outside home during this HBL period. The vouchers can be used up to 31 May.

$660k set aside for scheme

A total of $660,000 will be set aside for the CDC Student Meals Scheme. Of this sum, $300,000 was donated by Dr Tahir (Ang Tjoen Ming), founder of Mayapada Group. The five CDCs will match the donation with another $300,000, while Grab is contributing $60,000.

“We’re pooling together our resources and tapping on technology to bolster our community, and to help needy children from rental blocks access decent meals,” said Low Yen Ling, chairman of Mayors’ Committee and Mayor of South West District.

“Each child matters. During this challenging time when they are missing the support and familiarity of school, we want them to know that they are not alone, there are people who care, and the community is rallying behind them.”

Eligible students will have to sign up for the scheme via email to their respective CDCs. They may visit the CDC official website and use the district checker to find out which CDC they can write to. The sign-up period for this scheme is from 14 to 27 April.

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