Fact-check: No truth to claims that Punjab's free milk programme for schools is cancelled

Online users have falsely claimed that Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has cancelled a programme to provide free milk to primary schoolchildren, aimed at tackling stunting and malnutrition in the province.

Claim

On August 25, a social media user on X (formerly Twitter) posted: “Breaking news. The programme to provide free milk to children in schools has been suspended till next year.”

Identical text was shared on Facebook here and here as well.

Fact

The Chief Minister Punjab School Nutrition Programme, announced earlier this year during the chief minister’s budget speech, has not been cancelled. In fact, it was launched on September 5 in the district of Dera Ghazi Khan. The event was televised by several news channels.

Punjab’s Minister for School Education Rana Sikandar Hayat confirmed to Geo Fact Check that the programme is proceeding as planned. It will initially be launched in Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh, and Rajanpur, which have the highest rates of malnutrition and stunting, while additional districts will be added every two months, he explained.

The programme aims to provide free milk to all public primary schools (classes 1-5), the minister said, adding that each milk pack will contain 175 millilitres with 120 calories.

Zeeshan Malik, the political secretary to the chief minister of Punjab, also said that the online claims are incorrect.

On June 28, during the budget 2024-25 session at the Punjab Assembly, CM Maryam announced a Rs27 billion project to provide free milk to young children in the province to combat stunting.

Follow us on @GeoFactCheck on X (Twitter) and @geo_factcheck on Instagram. If our readers detect any errors, we encourage them to contact us at [email protected]