STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: At a time when consuming nutritious food has become a huge challenge in itself for many ordinary citizens due to a surge in prices of essential commodities, a huge concern has risen among many about the quality of meals served to school children in Assam under the Midday Meal (MDM) scheme, considering the amount earmarked and spent on each of them.
The average amount of money spent on each child in lower primary (LP) and upper primary (UP) schools in Assam under the scheme has been estimated to be Rs 6.81 per day.
While Rs 5.45 is spent on average for every child in LP schools, in UP schools the amount has been pegged at Rs 8.17 per day.
The primary objective of the MDM scheme is to provide nutritious meals to children in schools.
And, as per norms, 450 calories and 12 gm of protein should be ensured to every child daily in LP schools, while every UP school child should be provided 700 calories and 20 gm of protein daily.
Now, with the kind of money spent per child, there are serious question marks over whether the schools are able to provide nutritious and quality food to the students, thereby defeating the very purpose of the scheme.
Purchasing of items like dal, eggs, vegetables, oil for cooking, fuel for cooking, etc, has to be managed from the amounts fixed.
Now, with inflationary trends, there is a strong feeling among many that there is either a compromise on the quality of meals served to the children, or on the quantity. However, rice is provided free to the schools.
In Assam, 36.23 lakh students are provided meals under the MDM scheme across 44,340 LP and UP schools.
The Centre bears 90% of the cost of the scheme in the north-eastern region, with the respective state governments chipping in with the remaining 10% of the funds.
But even in this, there are regular allegations of funds not being released in time by Dispur, leading to a lot of inconvenience.
A few days back, the Asom Sanmilita Sikshak Manch alleged that many LP and UP schools have not received money under the MDM scheme since June this year. This, the manch claimed, has forced many schools to buy food items on credit.
The quality of meals served in schools is under scanner most of the time in the state, with allegations surfacing often of poor quality and insufficient food being served to the children.
It is said that the quality and quantity of meals are ensured only during school inspections by government officials.
Sources said timely release of funds by Dispur is of utmost importance for ensuring proper implementation.
Further, they contend that, with the Government of Assam already hiking spending in various sectors, there is no harm in Dispur allocating more funds to make the meals served in the schools more nutritious.
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