Schools directed to cook ‘Khichadi’ under MDM scheme on Mar 15; officers in doubt

Aurangabad, March 6:

The Directorate of Primary Education directed the schools in the State to cook ‘Khichadi’ as lunch to the students of class I to VIII from March 15 under Mid Day Meal (MDM) Scheme.

However, 50 per cent distribution of nutritious food grains quota of the last 154 days is still not supplied. As a result, it is not possible to supply nutritious food to schools for at least 15 days.

It may be noted that the cooking of nutritious food was stopped in the schools for the past two years because of Covid restrictions imposed in the State. The offline classes began in schools with a decline in Covid patients in the third wave.

Therefore, the State Government finally decided to give permission for cooking nutritious food in schools as there is a demand from parents. The schools were also seeking permission to cook lunch to increase students' attendance.

The instructions were issued to distribute food for the schools from March 15. However, the supply of the last six months has not yet been completed. It will take at least 8-10 days to complete. This will be followed by the distribution of food grains for cooking in the school. This needs a minimum of 15 days time to complete the distribution. The officers from Mid Day Meal scheme are in doubt whether ‘Khichadi’ will be cooked in the current month considering the situation.

The schools were instructed to plan recipe and arrange necessary fuel, vegetables, oil to cook lunch. The schools will have to strictly adhere to hygiene and Covid norms. Bhausaheb Deshpande, Mid Day Meal scheme officer of the district said that the distribution of 4,000 tonnes of rice for 4.60 lakh students from 3,077 schools of the district is yet to be supplied.

“It will take eight to ten days. This will be followed by the distribution of nutritious food grains for cooking in schools. Although there is a period of 20 days, this work is not possible in less than two weeks. There are also instructions for distributing lunch on Sundays,” he said.