KOCHI: The midday meal scheme, which has been a source of nutritious food for students studying in primary sections of the state’s schools, has become a financial bane for school officials due to the lack of sufficient funds to meet daily expenses incurred. If the issue is not taken seriously by the state government and funds aren’t released in tandem with increasing vegetable and fuel prices, schools will struggle to take the scheme forward.
According to Mary O J, headmistress of Amaravathi Government UP School in Kochi, the state government currently allots Rs 8 per student per day as part of the scheme. “However, the expenses we incur are almost twice the amount. It has only been a week since reopening and the school has already spent more than Rs 2,500,” she added.
The school gets only Rs 736 per week as the midday meal fund from the government, Mary said, further pointing out that the rest had to be realised by the HM and teachers themselves. In fact, the HM has been shelling out money from her own pocket to meet the extra costs incurred for the meal. Another concern raised by HMs of primary schools is the increase in financial burden due to the current shift-based system, which was implemented in the wake of the pandemic.
“If we were to provide students with 150ml of milk twice a week and an egg per week, with the introduction of the shift system we now have to provide milk four times and eggs twice a week. This not only increases the expenses incurred for the purchase of ingredients, but also the fuel,” said Xavier, headmaster of a primary school at Kumbalangi, who gets Rs 800 per week for the scheme while his expenditure is more than Rs 2,000.
According to him, the financial burden is especially huge for schools with less number of students because the government sanctions funds as per student strength. Sreejith Ashok, another HM, said the state government should realise that teachers are the ones who are meeting the excess expenses involved. “They are afraid to ask parents for funds. Schools that have parent-teacher association (PTA) funds manage to tide over the difference. But in case of government schools, the situation is different,” he said. Sreejith gets only Rs 2,400 as the weekly midday meal fund, while his expenditure comes to a total of more than Rs 4,000.
The HMs suggest that if the state government can’t increase the funds, it can at least initiate steps like the outsourcing of the preparation of meals. “Many states have begun outsourcing. It will take some burden off the shoulders of the teachers and the heads of the institutions. At present, we have to appoint one person to take care of the midday meal alone. They not only have to buy provisions, but also keep three daily registers,” said Mary.
According to teachers associations, while the government announces various programmes for the provision of sumptuous meals to students, it is the head of the school and the teachers who often end up shelling out the money. “This amount never gets reimbursed,” a teacher pointed out. It is learnt that an HM had spent Rs 25,000 to provide sadhya to her students on the occasion of the Midday Meal Day, which is yet to be reimbursed. Same is the case with extra expenses incurred for the midday meals.
Case study
B8 is the amount the state government currently allots per student per day as part of the scheme to Amaravathi Government UP School The school gets only C736 per week as the midday meal fund from the government