State government plans to deposit noon meal fund into parents’ account

Chennai

Primary school children in the age group of 5-9 years and upper primary school students in the age group of 10-15 years are provided with hot nutritious variety meals on the school premises itself, for five school days in a week for a total of 220 days in a year. However, the noon meal scheme could not be continued since all the schools were closed since March 17 due to coronavirus pandemic.

Though the School Education Department tried to provide dry rations at the doorsteps of the noon-meal beneficiaries, it could not be continued due to logistics issues in the wake of an increase in the number of coronavirus cases across the state.

A senior official from the Directorate of School Education told DT Next that since the government has declared thousands of containment areas where COVID-19 cases are higher, the field workers, who supply dry rations, could not reach larger number of beneficiaries. “Therefore, providing dry rations directly to the houses of the children could not be continued,” he added.

Stating that there were reports that many poor children, who had benefited from the noon meal scheme, could not get the required nutrition due to poor family conditions in view of the lockdown, the official said and added that the authorities concerned have suggested that children would continue to benefit if a specific amount is provided to the parents of the beneficiaries, who could get a nutritious meal cooked at home.

However, the official said the government is spending a meagre amount of about Rs 10 per student for each noon meal and therefore, the same money will not be useful for parents to provide nutritious food for their children.

“Therefore, the authorities are in the process of calculating a minimum amount that can be deposited either in the student’s or parent’s account to continue the noon meal programme from home itself,” he said adding “it was also discussed that whether the amount should be deposited either on weekly basis or once in a month.”

The official also said that the district education authorities are in the process of taking the list of beneficiaries and their bank account details. “A detailed report will be submitted to the government, which would be coming out with a decision soon,” he said adding “if everything goes well, the money could be deposited into the parent’s account likely from August.”