This article appeared in The Sentinel on September 27, 2013
The heart–rending wails of young mothers of 23 school children who died after eating their mid day meal at a school in Chhapra in Bihar on July 16 last, was a wake–up call for the people of Assam. One question is now on everyone’s lips—Can such a tragedy take place in Assam as well?
The fear is genuine and so is the possibility. Since cooked Mid–Day Meal (MDM) programme started in Assam from January 2005, there have been several incidents of children falling sick after consuming food cooked in schools and served as mid day meals.
Following the Bihar tragedy, the Assam government has expressed its intention to procure technology to test quality of food items prepared in schools across the state. The Education Minister categorically stated in the State Assembly that although there has been no tragedy in Assam on the scale of Bihar, there have been cases of 300–400 children falling sick after consuming meals under mid day meal scheme.
Assam has 63,254 schools serving MDM including Primary and Upper Primary schools besides 327 schools under National Child Labour Project (NCLP) in 2011–12 according to a MHRD report. Altogether 31,38,290 children have been covered at the primary school level and 15,54,556 children in the upper primary level under the scheme.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development in its recent report observed that 32 per cent schools in Assam had no storage facility. It also noted that the state had not procured 50 per cent of the kitchenware are required to serve quality midday meals despite the fact that the latter had released Rs 3,113.35 lakh to the State between 2006 and 2007 and 2012–13.
It also noted that while from 2006–07 to 2012–13, the Assam Government received Rs 46,885.37 lakh from the centre for construction of 56,795 kitchen–cum–stores, only 38,711 kitchen–cum–stores have been constructed so far.
After the Bihar MDM tragedy, Assam’s Education Minister has called for strict monitoring of food given to children in schools. While admitting that it is difficult to judge the quality of raw food like rice or dal when they are bought from the market, he advocated a better mechanism can be devised to check the quality of the food items served to children.
But as parents and guardians, a question arises in our minds—will simple monitoring help ensure that children always receive the best quality food?
To ensure that such an incident is not repeated in Assam, a strict chain of observation, monitoring and continuous evaluation will have to be maintained that not only tracks the kind of food that is being served to children but also the procurement of the items, particularly the rice and pulses and their proper storage.
So far, Village Education Committee (VEC), mother groups and School Management Committee (SMC) have been associated with the implementation of Mid–day Meal Programme in the state. But along with them, a monitoring committee comprising of nutritionists and child health specialists may be formed in establishing a streamlined process of procurement, storage and preparation of mid day meals in each school to ensure healthy and wholesome food.
All instructions, including tasting of the prepared food by two members of the SMC before being served to students should be strictly adhered to. At times, not just the quality of food but the process of preparation and distribution may also affect children. In such circumstances it has to be ensured that the prepared food is stored in hygienic conditions until it is served.
Another approach that can be taken is that of Public–Private Partnership. PPPs are generally cheaper, more efficient and involve private investments besides being in–budget and on–time.
In this regard, mention may be made of the Akshaya Patra Foundation, Guwahati, which is currently providing mid–day meals to around 570 schools in Kamrup (metro) and Kamrup districts since November, 2009. The food is cooked in a central kitchen and packed in big tiffin carriers and delivered to schools by 30 delivery vans before 12 noon. But the state government is yet to encourage the involvement of NGOs for implementation of cooked mid–day meals.
The government cannot and should not try to handle all kinds of developmental activities, especially something as massive as the mid–day meal scheme, as it lacks an efficient delivery mechanism. This becomes especially important as Right To Education is now a fundamental right and it is imperative for the government to provide a conducive environment for the children to go to school and study.
There is an absolute lack of able leadership in the state that can encourage growth of innovative thinking in Assam. This complete lack of innovative thinking prevents the best practices adopted in states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka from being replicated in the state.
Here a question also arises—is the government reluctant to hand over the field to private players and content itself only as a monitoring agency? For it cannot be denied that several media reports have pointed at possible scams in procurement of food grains and mis–utilisation of funds meant for construction of kitchens and storerooms.
It is time for the government to wake up and realize that it is jeopardizing the lives of hundreds of thousands of children by not taking effective steps to effectively run the MDM programme. After the Bihar school tragedy, there can be no excuse for the state government, should such a tragedy happen in Assam.
It is also the responsibility of parents, teachers and every single member of the society to ensure that every child going to school and having MDM is served wholesome meals which can be partaken of without any fear.
The heart–rending wails of young mothers of 23 school children who died after eating their mid day meal at a school in Chhapra in Bihar on July 16 last, was a wake–up call for the people of Assam. One question is now on everyone’s lips—Can such a tragedy take place in Assam as well?
The fear is genuine and so is the possibility. Since cooked Mid–Day Meal (MDM) programme started in Assam from January 2005, there have been several incidents of children falling sick after consuming food cooked in schools and served as mid day meals.
Following the Bihar tragedy, the Assam government has expressed its intention to procure technology to test quality of food items prepared in schools across the state. The Education Minister categorically stated in the State Assembly that although there has been no tragedy in Assam on the scale of Bihar, there have been cases of 300–400 children falling sick after consuming meals under mid day meal scheme.
Assam has 63,254 schools serving MDM including Primary and Upper Primary schools besides 327 schools under National Child Labour Project (NCLP) in 2011–12 according to a MHRD report. Altogether 31,38,290 children have been covered at the primary school level and 15,54,556 children in the upper primary level under the scheme.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development in its recent report observed that 32 per cent schools in Assam had no storage facility. It also noted that the state had not procured 50 per cent of the kitchenware are required to serve quality midday meals despite the fact that the latter had released Rs 3,113.35 lakh to the State between 2006 and 2007 and 2012–13.
It also noted that while from 2006–07 to 2012–13, the Assam Government received Rs 46,885.37 lakh from the centre for construction of 56,795 kitchen–cum–stores, only 38,711 kitchen–cum–stores have been constructed so far.
After the Bihar MDM tragedy, Assam’s Education Minister has called for strict monitoring of food given to children in schools. While admitting that it is difficult to judge the quality of raw food like rice or dal when they are bought from the market, he advocated a better mechanism can be devised to check the quality of the food items served to children.
But as parents and guardians, a question arises in our minds—will simple monitoring help ensure that children always receive the best quality food?
To ensure that such an incident is not repeated in Assam, a strict chain of observation, monitoring and continuous evaluation will have to be maintained that not only tracks the kind of food that is being served to children but also the procurement of the items, particularly the rice and pulses and their proper storage.
So far, Village Education Committee (VEC), mother groups and School Management Committee (SMC) have been associated with the implementation of Mid–day Meal Programme in the state. But along with them, a monitoring committee comprising of nutritionists and child health specialists may be formed in establishing a streamlined process of procurement, storage and preparation of mid day meals in each school to ensure healthy and wholesome food.
All instructions, including tasting of the prepared food by two members of the SMC before being served to students should be strictly adhered to. At times, not just the quality of food but the process of preparation and distribution may also affect children. In such circumstances it has to be ensured that the prepared food is stored in hygienic conditions until it is served.
Another approach that can be taken is that of Public–Private Partnership. PPPs are generally cheaper, more efficient and involve private investments besides being in–budget and on–time.
In this regard, mention may be made of the Akshaya Patra Foundation, Guwahati, which is currently providing mid–day meals to around 570 schools in Kamrup (metro) and Kamrup districts since November, 2009. The food is cooked in a central kitchen and packed in big tiffin carriers and delivered to schools by 30 delivery vans before 12 noon. But the state government is yet to encourage the involvement of NGOs for implementation of cooked mid–day meals.
The government cannot and should not try to handle all kinds of developmental activities, especially something as massive as the mid–day meal scheme, as it lacks an efficient delivery mechanism. This becomes especially important as Right To Education is now a fundamental right and it is imperative for the government to provide a conducive environment for the children to go to school and study.
There is an absolute lack of able leadership in the state that can encourage growth of innovative thinking in Assam. This complete lack of innovative thinking prevents the best practices adopted in states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka from being replicated in the state.
Here a question also arises—is the government reluctant to hand over the field to private players and content itself only as a monitoring agency? For it cannot be denied that several media reports have pointed at possible scams in procurement of food grains and mis–utilisation of funds meant for construction of kitchens and storerooms.
It is time for the government to wake up and realize that it is jeopardizing the lives of hundreds of thousands of children by not taking effective steps to effectively run the MDM programme. After the Bihar school tragedy, there can be no excuse for the state government, should such a tragedy happen in Assam.
It is also the responsibility of parents, teachers and every single member of the society to ensure that every child going to school and having MDM is served wholesome meals which can be partaken of without any fear.
