THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state child rights commission has directed the government to ensure that students in all primary sections attached to the government and aided schools should be brought within the ambit of the noon meal scheme.
Denying children the benefit of the noon meal scheme, on the grounds that they belong to 'unrecognised' pre-primary sections, amounts to a violation of national and international rules relating to child rights, the Commission noted. The children should either be enrolled in nearby Anganwadis or included in the school noon meal scheme to ensure proper nutrition for them, the Commission said.
The direction was issued by Commission member Reni Antony while hearing petitions by a group of parents of various schools in the Kollam district seeking the inclusion of children in pre-primary sections in the noon meal scheme. The child rights panel asked the Director and Secretary of the General Education Department to report on the steps taken, in the wake of the Commission's directions, within two months.
In the order, the Commission noted that both the Integrated Child Development Scheme and the Noon Meal Scheme have been brought under the ambit of the National Food Security Act, 2013. The child rights panel reminded that ensuring nutrition for children below the age of six through Anganwadis has been stipulated in the Act.
In 2012, the government ordered that no pre-primary sections should be started in government and aided schools without its recognition. However, many pre-primary sections were started after 2012 in schools by Parent Teacher Associations concerned as part of reviving the public education sector. These pre-primary sections are out of the purview of the noon meal scheme as they are unrecognised.
"Restricting noon meal to a section of students in a school, on whatever technical grounds, cannot be justified. Denying nutritious food, including milk and eggs, to small children in pre-primary sections is not only inhuman but also a violation of the Food Security Act," Reni Antony said in the order.