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3 weeks on, most students still to get mid-day meal ration
There has been no supply of cooked meals or dry ration to a majority of 8.18 lakh primary and 5.52 lakh upper primary students
CHANDIGARH Punjab has been under curfew for the past three weeks to curb the spread of coronavirus, but its school education department is still to supply mid-day meals to most of the 13.70 lakh government school students across the state.
There has been no supply of cooked meals or dry ration to a sizeable number of the 8.18 lakh primary (Classes 1 to 5) and 5.52 lakh upper primary (Classes 6 to 8) students from the time curfew was imposed on March 23. The school education department had, a fortnight ago, announced to supply foodgrains of the mid-day meal scheme to all students in sealed packets at their homes, but the officials in most districts are struggling to find a way to reach them.
The curfew has been extended in the state till May 3 and one-month summer vacation announced in all schools from April 11.
Director, elementary education, Inderjit Singh said the department was making all efforts to give dry ration and cooking cost to children and had done it in several blocks, but teachers were facing problems due to curfew restrictions. “We have sent instructions to all school heads to send dry ration to children’s homes,” he said.
The Supreme Court had, while taking suo motu cognisance on March 18, expressed concern over the impact of Covid-19 on the mid-day meals across the country since all educational institutions had been shut.
It also asked all the states and UTs to ensure supply of nutritional food to the children. Two days later, the Union human resource development (HRD) ministry also asked the states to give meals or a commensurate food security allowance.
The Punjab State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited (Punsup) started delivery of rice and wheat to 12,942 primary and 6,753 schools upper primary schools across the state after the education department decided to give dry ration for 24 days (9 days in March and 15 days in April). Each primary class student is to be supplied 2.4 kg of dry ration (100 gm per day) and those in upper primary classes will be given 3.6 kg (150 gm per day) for 24 days.
The doorstep delivery is expected to start in three to four days in most areas as teachers have been told to make packets and deliver them at homes of schoolchildren, officials of half-a-dozen districts indicated during phone calls made to them over the past two days.
In Bathinda district, though wheat and rice have been delivered in several blocks, doorstep delivery is still to commence. “Teachers have been calling up to find out if they will be allowed to enter villages where nakas (barriers) have been put up to stop people from entering. The district administration has been requested to issue curfew passes,” said a department official.
The district has transferred cooking cost of mid-day meal into the accounts of 49,092 primary and 34,131 upper primary students at the rate of Rs 4.48 per day and Rs 6.71 per day for 24 days, though.
An official in Barnala, which has 31,000 such students, said several teachers reside in other districts and were not sure if they would be able to travel to schools amid curfew. “They are also asking about transport arrangements for distribution as enrolment is high in several schools. Since no transport arrangements have been made, we are telling them to use their private vehicles,” said the official.
A Muktsar official said schoolteachers had already delivered dry ration to children’s homes in several blocks. In Ferozepur, foodgrains have been delivered in 42% of the schools.
