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8 months on, funds not released for mid-day meal scheme in J&K
In all, there are more than 22,000 government schools in Jammu and Kashmir where mid-day meal is to be provided
For the past eight months, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has not released funds for the mid-day meal scheme. Many schools have been unable to procure items or have been facing difficulties in preparing meals for the students.
In all, there are more than 22,000 government schools where mid-day meal is to be provided. For each primary student, the schools get ₹5. 45 and ₹7.45 are given for each middle school student. According to officials, ₹162 crore were approved under the scheme for this year.
Teachers in some schools have been arranging meals by spending a part of their salary and taking loans from shopkeepers. The scheme was launched in 2002 in J&K.
“I have around 200 students on rolls. We have been regularly providing mid-day meals to students. I exhausted all my savings and then took loans from shopkeepers. When I couldn’t pay the shopkeepers, they stopped supplying items. Now we don’t have provisions for the meals,” said principal of a government school in Bandipore. He added that the rice provided from ration stores has not been issued for the third quarter, adding to the problems.
“This is all a mess. How long could we afford to arrange mid-day meals by spending own money,” he lamented. He said that he has spent more than ₹1.5 lakh of his money, adding that there were many like him, going through the same ordeal.
“Some schools have had to stop preparing mid-day meals or the quality gets compromised,” he said.
The scheme was launched by the Union government to ensure proper nutrition among the students enrolled in government schools and to promote attendance.
Another teacher, who is in-charge of mid-day meal at a school in Baramulla district, shared the same woes.
“We used to get money after couple of months. Now we haven’t got the money since March. Many schools have either stopped or limited this scheme to odd days. This scheme won’t yield its results if funds aren’t released on time,” he said.
Those who have been assigned to arrange mid-day meals in other districts said their pleas seeking release of funds have not yielded results. ‘We have been told by higher ups that money will be released, but it proves to be a false promise every time. Wither the funds should be released, or we have to stop this scheme.”
According to officials, the funds received from the Union government’s ministry of human resource and development (MHRD) to the administration are released from the School Education Department (administrative) to the directorates of school education for release to school levels.
The scheme is based on 90% central funding and 10% expenses are borne by the UT administration. The food grains are lifted by the consumer affairs public distribution department from the Food Corporation of India godowns on behalf of district authorities on quarterly basis.
Deep Raj, director of SAMAGRA, said the money will be released shortly. “We expect to receive first instalment in a day or two,” he said.
Raj negated the claims that schools have stopped providing mid-day meals. “There is no school on date which is not providing mid-day meal to the students. We have sufficient quantity of rice in each school,” he added.
