Now, menu to be told in advance

STUDENTS OF Basic Shiksha Parishad will be posted with menu of their mid-day meal scheme in advance from  the coming academic session 2006-07. This step has been taken by the government in view of many complaints made with regard to the mid-day meal scheme in the district.

According to the latest decision, the menu and other details would be mentioned on the notice board of every school daily.

Earlier, except the principal and Gram Shiksha Samiti nobody had the right to know about the menu.

Sources said that in most of the primary schools in district, the mid-day meals were prepared daily by 9 am, but they were only served at around 2 pm.

Moreover the meal tasted bitter. The quality of meal was badly hit in around 5000 primary schools in Allahabad division which comprises of Pratapgarh, Kaushambi and  Fatehpur districts. Commenting on the issue, Ram Krishna Pandey,  headmaster at a primary school situated in Soraon tehsil said that " we cannot do anything about the mid-day meal. The quality of the food is poor.''

Meanwhile Sunita, a class IV student of same school said that she did not depend on this meal because it was not good. She brings cooked food from home.

On the condition of anonymity an official at  Basic Education Department said that this scheme had proved quite beneficial in increasing the enrolment of students in  rural areas. He admitted the receipt of complaints of using inferior quality foodgrains in preparing mid-day meal. Action was taken against the guilty, he added.

He said that now with the menu written on the school notice board in advance the transparency would be ensured in the mid-day meal scheme. He pointed out that the conversion cost per student under the mid-day meal scheme was  likely to be raised to ensure nutritious and tasty food for the primary school students.