The mid-day meals this time have made headlines in Vasco. Eighty-one students from a school in Sada, Vasco went without these meals for over forty days while everyone watched. The reason given was the self-help group (SHG) which was contracted to supply the meals had not renewed its Food Safety and Standard Act of India (FSSAI) license, which is mandatory as per regulation laid by the government and hence the meals were not accepted.
While rules laid down by the government clearly state that no student should go without a meal for a single day, here is a case where students went hungry for forty days at a stretch. In early September this year, over 900 students from nine schools in Sattari were deprived of mid-day meals for a few days after the SHG who was supplying meals was told to stop after a sudden FDA raid where health officials raised concerns over unhygienic condition of the kitchen.
This brings into sharp focus the fragile mechanism of the mid-day meals where children have become innocent targets. In the Sada case the school principal stopped accepting meals on September 4 but waited till September 11 to send a letter to the ADEI requesting to make alternative arrangements. Even after a month nothing moved and there was no response from the ADEI, neither there were any alternate arrangements made. The students were given biscuits in the interim by the school teachers for a few days.
This not only exposes the sheer callousness of the ADEI but puts a big question mark on the working of the system. It was only after the second reminder that the ADEI made a visit to the school and approached the self-help group. Again, there was no back-up plan in place for the mid-day meals. It is only after the SHG produced the renewal slip from the Food and Drugs Administration department, meals resumed.
The ADEI should be held responsible for not acting promptly and failing to make alternate arrangements. Such a long delay in taking action cannot be condoned. The self-help group should be reprimanded over forcing such a situation on the students. Failure to renew license on the premise that they were directed to make some changes in the apparatus being used to cook and also undertake pest control cannot be accepted. Self-help groups have been raising a hue and cry over government's move to sign in Akshay Patra Foundation for supply of mid-day meals. These incidents punch gaping holes in functionality of SHGs and fall way short of the proposals forwarded by the Foundation.
The Sada school leadership should have also showed urgency and promptly called for a Parent-Teacher Association meeting. The issue should have been addressed immediately, rather than sitting over it and serving students some biscuits for a few days. The government should take these lapses seriously and come up with solutions in situations like these where SHGs are not in a position to deliver. Unless there are systems in place, our children will continue to be victims of an unreliable service.
