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After women's self-help groups it is the turn of students' mothers to be roped in to ensure the success of the mid-day meal scheme. Mothers on duty will have to look into the quality of food being served and also keep a check on the utilisation of funds
Mothers of students will be involved in monitoring the implementation of India's school mid-day meal scheme, under new guidelines formulated by the government to improve the quality of food served under the scheme. The women will also have financial control of the programmes, in order to check the misuse of funds.
Already, several Indian states have successfully enlisted women's self-help groups and mothers in supervising the preparation of the lunches and the feeding of students, prompting the government to consider an increased role for them in the meals scheme.
At a meeting of a Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) held on May 17, members were informed that several states had responded enthusiastically to the HRD Ministry's proposal to encourage mothers to take turns to be present at mealtimes to ensure their quality and regularity.
The ministry has also suggested the setting up of a subcommittee at the panchayat level comprising of the mothers, home science teachers and nutrition experts to regularly monitor the quality and nutrition levels of food.
The Mid-Day Meal Scheme which covers 120 million children in government - run schools is the world's largest school feeding programme. It aims to increase enrolment and attendance schools, thus reducing the number of dropouts as well as to ensure the food security of Indian children of a school-going age.
Some states have already started involving mothers in a supervisory role. In Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, schools keep a roster of mothers who are informed by their child when they are on supervisory duty. In Uttaranchal, mothers have been appointed 'bhojan matas' and 'sahayikas' in all government primary schools.
And most recently, also in Orissa, the Chief Minister directed that Mothers' Committees be constituted in each of the 43,000 primary schools to monitor the quality of lentils used in the preparation of the mid-day meal. The chief minister instructed that payments will be made to the suppliers only after the committee is satisfied with its quality.
Until now, the quality of lentils - the only item on the school menu that is centrally procured -- had to be approved by the district collector, the local block development officer and the anganwadi workers, who were involved in cooking the meals. The state's Women and Child Development Minister Pramila Mallick said the idea was mooted by her department after allegations about the inferior quality of lentils being served poured in.
Source: The Telegraph, May 25,
2006
www.pib.nic.in, May 17,
2006
www.newindpress.com, May 9,
2006
www.empowerpoor.org, May 2006
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