Karnataka earns praise for invloving SC/ST cooks in Mid-day Meal

New Delhi, July 30 (UNI) Karnataka has done some social value additions to the mid-day meal scheme by making it compulsory for schools which have two cooks to have at least one of them from the Scheduled Castes(STs) and Scheduled Tribes(STs).

A school with three cooks will have one belonging to SC/ST and one to OBC, while a school with four cooks will have at least one SC/ST, one OBC and one minority.

The state has earned praise for its measure which was a concrete step in eliminating social untouchability and rooting out discriminaion based on caste.

Besides, several other additional measures have been taken to make the mid-day meal more fulfilling.

The State has initiated a 'Swastha Plus' kitchen garden in 20,000 primary school to enable children to grow vegetables which are used in the mid day meal.

Associated with the scheme, is the Suvarna Chaitanya Arogya programme which provides for regular health check of children.

Health cards are prepared for them and referral services are provided for those with serious ailments.

Assistive devices are provided under SSA for children with hearing and visual impairments.

Other states like Tamil Nadu, Pudducherry, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat have also introduced innovations to take the scheme beyond mid-day meal, the Ministry of Human Resource Development said here.

In Tamil Nadu, the government provides mid-day meal to children in different age groups, namely two to four years, five to nine years, 10-13 years and 14-15 years, thus covering children from the pre-school to higher secondary stage.

The State Government has a well laid out feeding scale for children in different age groups, which is further supplemented by 15 protein rich foods, comprising, boiled black gram, green gram, potatoes and eggs.

In Puducherry, milk and sweet bread is provided for breakfast before the commencement of classes, and an evening snack given before children return home. This is in addition to the mid-day meal.

In several schools of Bihar, children have been organised into a Bal Sansad. The Bal Sansad is actively associated in serving food.

The Gujarat government provides micro-nutrients and de-worming tablets and conducts health check systematically.

In Chhattisgarh, the State Health Resource Centre (SHRC) have organised Mithanins (an intimate friend) to provide support to the mid-day meal programme in Koyna district.

In most schools of Rajasthan, cooking is undertaken in the school itself by the cook appointed by the School Development and Management Committee (SDMC), but the government has also associated the Annapurna Women Cooperative Society, to provide mid-day meal in two Panchayats of each block.

The meal is cooked in a centrally located school and distributed to different schools in the 16 Panchayat. Presently there are 463 Annapurna Women Cooperative Societies providing mid-day meal to over three lakh children in 3500 schools.

UNI