Bhubaneswar: In a significant move, the Department of School & Mass Education and Mission Shakti have decided to relieve school teachers of Mid-Day Meal (MDM) management duty and entrust the same to Women Self-Help Groups (WSHGs)
According to reports, the WSHGs will take charge of MDM management of schools having more than 100 students in the preliminary stage. The WSHGs will receive the funds to run the MDM programme through District Education Officers (DEOs).
As per the decision, WSHG members and the Headmasters will remain present during serving of the mid-day meal at the schools. Besides, the schools which are having the Central Kitchen facility or being provided MDM through Akshaya Patra Foundation have been exempted from this new rule.
It may be mentioned here that, the State Government has been ensuring to provide better-cooked food to school children. However, complaints regarding stale or unhygienic MDM served to school kids arise frequently. This results in disputes between school authorities and parents/guardians. This apart, the teaching is also adversely affected as the school headmasters stay busy with the MDM management duty.
With this, 15,000 SHGs will now overlook the MDM programme in 53 thousand schools across the state which will ensure uninterrupted teaching as the teachers will now have to focus on imparting education.
Prasanta Patnaik