CAN’T SPONSOR MIDDAY MEAL ANYMORE, SAY TEACHERS

KAPURTHALA: As the state government has failed to release funds to run the mid-day meal scheme in schools since August, teachers have decided not to serve meal to students from next week.

The teachers had somehow managed continue the scheme for the past three months either by taking food items on credit of by paying from their own pockets, said a member of the Democratic Teachers’ Front in Kapurthala.

Government teachers in 650 schools of the district have not received any grant under the mid-day meal scheme from the state government.

“Teachers cannot bear the expenses from their own pockets. We have already served midday meal to students for three months. The scheme will be discontinued in all government schools if the grant is not released soon, Sukhdev Senior, a DTF member said on Sunday.

Union members said they held a meeting with the district education officer and informed the higher authorities about the non-release of funds for the scheme, but to no avail. Now, even the shopkeepers have refused to provide items on credit, they said.

Sources said that due to a shortage of funds, schools have now started serving ‘khichdi’ and salted rice to students rather than following the diet chart.

Under the scheme, every child in government primary schools is to be served a mid-day meal with a minimum content of 300 calories of energy and 8-12 gram protein per day. Under the scheme, 60% share of the grant is provided by the Centre and 40% is contributed by the state government.

DEO (primary) Gurcharan Singh said that they had sent a demand of ₹1.85 crore to the higher authorities. The funds will be released soon, he added.