PANAJI
Taking suo-motu cognisance of a media report regarding the presence of maggots in mid-day meals served to children in schools located in Ponda, the Goa State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights on Wednesday served a notice to the Directorate of Education and simultaneously, launched an inquiry into the matter.
The Commission has described the incident as not only deeply distressing but also a grave lapse in responsibility. “The Mid-Day Meal (MDM) scheme has an extensive monitoring system at the state, district, and local levels to ensure that children receive high-quality food under the program. The School Management Committees (SMCs) have the responsibility to monitor the regularity and wholesomeness of the mid-day meal served to children, cleanliness in cooking and serving of the meal, timeliness in the procurement of good quality ingredients, fuel, etc., on a daily basis,” Chairperson Peter Borges said.
The Commission further stated that the incident exposes glaring negligence on the part of all those involved in the monitoring process at various levels, and thus warrants serious action. In its notice, the Goa SCPCR pointed out that MDM guidelines mandate schools to procure Agmark-quality and branded items for mid-day meal preparation. It also stipulates that meals should be tasted by 2-3 adult members of the SMC including at least one teacher, before serving them to children.
“A system for testing food samples by accredited laboratories is required. The MDM Rules of 2015 also mandate mandatory testing of food samples by government-recognized laboratories to ensure that the meals meet nutritional standards and quality benchmarks,” he said.
The Commission has initiated an inquiry and called for appropriate legal action against those found responsible. It has further requested the department to provide a status report on all monitoring mechanisms at various levels to prevent similar incidents in the future.
