The ambitious midday meal scheme (school meal) which was launched by the government to provide nutritional food to schoolchildren has come as a blessing to the avaricious government teachers in Karimnagar district.
As per norms, only one teacher should only test the quality of midday meals prepared by the agencies in schools. None of the teachers carries lunch box to schools and a majority of them partake the midday meals prepared for the schoolchildren.
Now, with the government serving superfine rice as part of midday meal scheme, the government teachers in rural areas and some urban centres have been instructing the agencies to prepare special curries exclusively for them. “If we don’t prepare the special dishes ordered by the teachers, they complain of poor quality food and harass us,” said a member of a midday meals agency.
The headmasters, who did not want to be quoted, said that everyday at least eight to 15 teachers in each school eat the midday meals in the school . “If we say that it is unfair to eat children’s food, they (teachers) counter us saying that “you are not serving the food from your pocket” and ask us to increase the number of children in the midday meals list,” they complained.
The headmasters also said that there are instances of teachers conducting special feasts on various occasions, using the groceries meant for midday meals. Telangana State Gazetted Headmasters Association State additional general secretary C. Pradyumna Kumar said that the headmasters should be relived of midday meals duties. “Our role should be minimised only to inform the number of students who take the meals every day,” he said.
DEO K. Lingaiah said that he had informed all the MEOs to ensure that no teacher eats the midday meals. “I will also issue written instructions to all the headmasters,” he said adding that only one teacher should only taste the food for quality and not even the members preparing midday meals should eat the food.
FOOD AND NUTRITION
Total number of children having midday meals in government schools — 2.4 lakhs
Students studying from first to fifth standard are served 100 grams of rice and students from sixth to tenth class 150 grams of rice
Everyday 300 quintals of rice is served for the midday meals
More than 3,500 class four employees working in schools and another 7,000 outsourced persons prepare the meals
