(Finance) – Reaching thegoal of a thousand new canteens to help schools extend full-time, responding to the previously unmet needs of the territories: the Municipalities, for primary schools, and the Provinces and metropolitan cities, for boarding schools, have until 6.00 pm on 6 September 2024 to respond to thePublic Notice launched today by Ministry of Education and Meritfor a spending commitment, within the scope of the PNRR, of 515 million and 481 thousand euros.
“Investing in canteens means allow schools to extend full-timein favor of students but also of families and working women. A need that is particularly felt in the South, to which we have allocated at least 40% of the resources. Our objective”, declares the Minister of Education and Merit, Joseph Valditara“it is a school in which all students, regardless of their starting conditions and place of residence, have the same opportunities for educational success. This is also how Italy is reunited”.
Currently, in fact, from the data of the Single portal for school data – In the school building sector it emerges that in the South only 26% of the institutes that host primary schools are equipped with a canteen, against 54% of the Center Northand only 38% of the institutes that host nursery schools have a canteen, compared to 65% in the Centre-North.
The tender specifies that new construction interventions are eligible for funding, demolition and reconstruction, safety and redevelopment and reconversion. The works must be entrusted by January 31, 2025, delivered by March 31, 2025, completed by 31 March 2026 and tested by 31 June 2026. Local authorities must also undertake to maintain the school use destination for the buildings subject to financing for at least five years and the canteens must be sized according to the number of students who will benefit from them.
To support local authorities both in the application phase and in the implementation phase of the interventions, and thus allow maximum participation, the Ministry has prepared a simple membership procedure through the MIM portalwith specific administrative and technical support actions, webinars, information and training meetings in the territories.