PANJIM: The smooth running of Goa’s grassroots school education system may have a gut roadblock.
The fate of mid-day meal supplies for 1.58 lakh students out of 1.63 lakh across Goa hangs in balance on account of the face-off between Self-Help Groups and the Directorate of Education over payments due to them for over six months.
The Rs 13 crore question
The Self-Help Groups have not called off their decision to stop supplying mid-day meals to schools, from July 1, 2023, unless the total dues accruing to a massive RS 13 crore were cleared. Most of them have taken loans and pawned their gold, to sustain operations. They have publicly stated that they cannot pull through any longer.
Earlier this month, the DoE had floated a tender seeking ‘expression of interest’ from NGOs and civil society organisations to supply hot cooked meals in schools covering 5,000 of the 1.63 lakh students. In the tender, the department emphasised that institutions must be committed to undertaking supply of mid-day meal responsibility on a no-profit basis and abide completely by the parameters of NP-NSPE 2006 along with subsequent changes from time to time.
Speaking to O Heraldo, Director Education Shailesh Zingade said that the SHGs had difficulty in supplying meals to these 5,000 students from Canacona taluka and part Ponda taluka due to transportation problems, and therefore the department has floated this tender.
“The mid-day meals will be provided to the rest of the students through the existing SHGs and PTAs. We are not going to replace them at all. The move came as a surprise to 98 self-help groups and eight Parent-Teacher Associations who were currently supplying the meal,” Zingade said.
Zingade said that the order of preference for giving mid-day meals to students would be parent-teacher associations, self-help groups, dry rations and NGOs.
The Directorate of Education said that the name of the preferred bidder for the supply of mid-day meals to only 5,000 students out of a total of 1.63 lakh student beneficiaries of the scheme would be declared on Tuesday (June 27). The Director of Education added that the Programme Advisory Board of the Central Ministry had recommended floating tender for providing of mid-day to students.
The move came as a surprise to 98 self-help groups and eight Parent-Teacher Associations who were currently supplying the meal. However, the DoE clarified that these SHGs will continue to provide the service.
The contentious issue is the massive pending payment of Rs 13 crore. On June 2 more than 100 Self-Help Groups engaged in providing mid-day meals threatened to stop their services from July 1 2023; unless their dues pending for more than 6 months were cleared. The Self-Help Groups had however, claimed, according to reports, that when they first met the Education Director on June 2, he had expressed his inability to clear the backlog immediately since the central component of the funds had not come.
The department claimed that it was clearing pending dues of the self-help groups (SHG) amounting to the Rs 13 crore. The Director also said that the pending bills of 100-odd SHGs amounting to Rs 13 crore will be cleared by June 30. “They had threatened me to stop the supply of mid-day meal from July 1 despite my assurance to see that their payment is released in time bound manner,” he said adding ‘following State government approval, we have already started clearing the payments’.
He said that the SHG members had visited him last week following the release of payment. “They in fact visited me to say thank you. So far around 30-40 per cent payment is released,” he said.
“We have been fulfilling the demands of SHG every time. But they keep us threatening us,” he said.
Zingade said that SHGs will continue to supply food after July 1.
