Mid-day meal off table, Punjab school kids hit hard
Manav Mander
Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, July 14
The pandemic seems to have undone the years of progress made in reducing malnutrition among children. Since schools are lying shut due to the Covid outbreak, students are not getting food under the mid-day meal scheme.
Each student was given 2-kg grain
Around 13 lakh students of primary and upper-primary classes of government schools in the state come under the mid-day meal scheme.
Even during the period when ration was distributed, each primary student was given 1.2 kg each of wheat and rice, while upper primary students were given 1.8 kg each of wheat and rice.
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Tehal Singh, press secretary, Government School Teachers Union (Ludhiana), said initially, foodgrain was delivered on the doorsteps of the students for 24 days (March 23 to April 15), but after that, no distribution had been done and no instructions were given to the schools in this regard.
Around 13 lakh students of primary and upper-primary classes of government schools in the state come under the mid-day meal scheme.
Even during the period when ration was distributed, each primary student was given 1.2 kg each of wheat and rice, while upper primary student was given 1.8 kg each. Besides, a cooking amount of Rs 107.52 was given to primary students and Rs 161.04 to upper primary students by way of direct benefit transfer.
A teacher, who was on duty for the distribution of ration, said: “We were often caught in embarrassing situations as families would argue that how they would get a kilogram of wheat ground as no mill would do that. Some even refused to accept the grain.”
Lalita from Bhagwan Das Colony, whose son studies in a government primary school, said earlier, she was not worried about the lunch of her son as he used to have it at school, but now, all she could afford was rice with dal and sometimes just potatoes with a chapatti or two.
Lalit Kishore Ghai, DPI (Elementary), said they had received instructions from the Central Government and were chalking out a plan for the distribution of foodgrain among the students.
Meanwhile, anganwadi centres are regularly getting ration, comprising wheat, rice, sugar, milk powder, desi ghee and panjiri, which is being delivered on the doorsteps of the beneficiary children. The anganwadis provide breakfast and lunch to pre-school children.
