Chandigarh, November 17
Fed up with being forced to cook food for schoolchildren that they are supposed to teach, government teachers of Punjab have moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court for directions for the supply of cooked meals to be distributed to the schoolchildren under the mid-day meal programme.

The petitioner — the Government Primary Teachers Association, Punjab — has stated that none of the government schools in Punjab has infrastructure for cooking mid-day meals.

The National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education, 2004, popularly known as the mid-day meal scheme, was launched by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development with the main purpose of giving a thrust to primary education. This was proposed to be done by improving enrollment, attendance and retention, particularly of students belonging to the weaker sections. The scheme was also aimed at improving the nutritional status of schoolchildren by providing nutritional support to them.

However, the petition states, though the guidelines make it clear that cooked meals are to be supplied to students without interrupting academic activity, this is not the case. In Punjab, the entire responsibility for cooking and distributing meals is delegated to the teachers.

Saying that no provision has been made for the supply of cooked meal for distribution and only raw material is being supplied to the head teachers, the petition says that as per the guidelines, the state government has to make provisions for the supply of cooked meals through the NGOs, gram panchayats and parent-teachers associations. But, this is not being done.

"The directions if implemented in letter and spirit will reduce learning in the schools to a mere farce as teachers will be spending at least three hours in preparation, service and washing of utensils for the mid-day meal," the petition adds.

Saying that the teachers have also become liable to action by food inspectors if the quality of the food is not to up to the mark, the petitioner has claimed that it, along with other teachers' unions, has made a representation to the government in this regard but no action has been taken so far.

The petitioner has prayed that directions be issued to supply cooked meals to students.