1.60 lakh students may go without mid-day meals

PANJIM: Nearly 1.60 lakh students could miss their mid-day meals when the schools reopen for the second term in November as the self-help groups (SHGs) have threatened to stop the supply of cooked food if government fails to hike the rates and clear pending dues before classes resume. 

The mid-day meal suppliers from five talukas — Mormugao, Ponda, Salcete, Tiswadi and Pernem — on Wednesday called on the Director of Education demanding that their payments due since June be cleared and the allocation of funds per child be hiked, under the scheme. 

Students in the interior villages of Canacona have not been given mid-day meals since October 1, after the menu was altered by the government. The schools across State are closed for Diwali vacation and are set to re-open from November 7. 

Speaking to mediapersons after the meeting, the mid-day meal suppliers said that the present rates are not sufficient to replace the Goan bread (pao) with chapattis and idlis, as per the revised menu. 

“We were promised that the rates will be hiked from June. However, that has not happened. Moreover, government has not even cleared our old payments since June. We invested money as the government promised to pay us. Now we are suffering losses,” they said. 

The suppliers said that they are working with reduced helpers as they have no money to pay. 

“Only for the sake of students, we are providing food despite losses, but not anymore,” they said. 

The Director of Education has promised us to clear all pending bills by November 4, failing which we will stop the supply,” they said. 

A senior officer from the department told Herald that a proposal has been moved to increase the allocation per child from Rs 6.11 to Rs 8 per child in the pre-primary and primary category and Rs 10 for upper primary schools. 

“The CMO has already cleared the file. However, the Finance Department has raised some queries,” the official said. 

Currently, the average unit cost per child per day is Rs 6.11 for pre-primary and primary students while for upper primary it’s Rs 7.45.

The DoE had last month altered the midday meal menu with the elimination of refined flour or maida. New dishes such as mixed vegetable idlis and mix vegetable pulao, chole chapatti, vegetarian kurma and potato bhaji were added.