In Aktobe, entrepreneurs who provide free hot meals to schoolchildren have faced payment delays since the start of the academic year. The business owners fear they will be unable to continue operating, as their own funds for food and cooks' salaries are running out, the website infohub.kz reports.
According to the KTK television channel, the entrepreneurs said they have still not been paid for the services they have provided. If the issue is not resolved soon, school meal services could be at risk.
"We have exhausted all the resources we have. We took out loans, we even got to some jewelry — we handed it over. It's embarrassing to say, but I will say it. They think we are raking it in, but we feed children. I feed almost 1,500 children. Imagine how much money that takes every day," said entrepreneur Sholpan Tastybayeva.
In Kazakh schools, free hot meals are provided to primary school pupils as well as children from certain socially vulnerable categories. The meals are organized by entrepreneurs who rent school canteens following tenders. Their services are supposed to be paid for from the local budget. However, in Aktobe, payments to suppliers have been delayed for a second month.
The business owners appealed to the akimat, but so far the issue has not been resolved. They now hope for help from the prosecutor's office. Meanwhile, schoolchildren return to their desks after the holidays next week. The entrepreneurs need to buy food and pay their employees' salaries, but according to them, there is virtually no money left for this.
Officials assure that the issue is already being addressed. "Work is underway to pay off the debt to school meal suppliers. The necessary procedures are currently being carried out. Payments are planned to be made in the coming days," the Aktobe Region Education Department assured.