Govt schools in Ludhiana scramble to serve mid-day meals to students amid workers’ protest

A day before schools reopened, the Punjab State Mid-Day Meal Society directed all district education officers to ensure that mid-day meal services remained unaffected by the protest

Government schools across the district were forced to make last-minute arrangements to ensure mid-day meals were served on the first day after the summer vacation on Wednesday, as many cook-cum-helpers stayed away from work in support of a statewide protest over increasing the honorarium of the workers. While some schools hired substitute cooks, others persuaded regular workers to return, and one government primary school even served samosas after failing to arrange a replacement.

Government school students having mid day meal during the school hours in Ludhiana. (HT Photo)

A day before schools reopened, the Punjab State Mid-Day Meal Society directed all district education officers to ensure that mid-day meal services remained unaffected by the protest. School heads were asked to arrange substitute cooks wherever regular workers were absent, with payments to be made from funds available under the scheme.

Despite the directive, school heads said arranging substitute cooks at short notice proved difficult.

At Government Primary School, Nandpur, students were served samosas after the school failed to find a replacement cook. “There was no one nearby willing to prepare the meal for our students. We could not let the children leave school on an empty stomach, so we served them samosas instead,” said head teacher Harjot Kaur.

Dharamjeet Singh Dhillon, officiating head of Government Senior Secondary School, Dhanansu, said regular cooks were familiar with the kitchen, food ingredients, hygiene protocols and students’ nutritional requirements. “It is difficult to expect someone engaged for just a day to handle these responsibilities. We requested our regular mid-day meal workers to prepare food despite the protest, and they agreed,” he said.

The protesting workers said they were left with no option but to boycott work as their long-pending demands remained unresolved. Paramjit Kaur, a member of the Mid-Day Meal Workers’ Union, said the workers receive an honorarium of only ₹3,000 a month, which is insufficient to support their families.

“Many of us are the sole earning members of our households. We have repeatedly demanded that the monthly honorarium be raised to ₹18,000 along with service benefits, but the government has not accepted our demands,” she said.

Jagjit Singh Mann, district president of the Government Teachers’ Union and head teacher of Government Primary School, Mangli Uchi, said the mid-day meal workers at his school resumed work after a request from the management. “Their demands are genuine and we fully support them,” he said.

Varinder Brar, general manager of the Punjab State Mid-Day Meal Society, said, “The proposal to enhance the workers’ honorarium is under consideration of the finance department.”