The first month and half of the school’s academic year has gone without any major incident of food poisoning or major problem in mid day meal scheme in the south and that is attributed to the fact that the system has improved and is better monitored.
However, there are still various issues that worry parents as well as suppliers specially in the rural areas.
Rajani Naik, a parent hailing from Quepem, felt that the food quality needs to more appetising in terms of taste and safety and there should be different items on the menu. She gave the example of how pav bhaji is served every day. This creates repetition and leads to wastage. Many parents like Rajani, who are part of committees in the school, said it is shocking many schools are wasting food.
Further there are cost problems and in the cities the rates are Rs 5.71 per student at primary and Rs 6.91 per student at upper primary, said one of the mid day meal suppliers.
Now this creates logistic problems for suppliers who have to travel to rural areas in Quepem or Curchorem by travelling distance of over 30 kms for the same rate. There is added cost of fuel and time is consumed as well, they said, thus creating feasibility issues.
