No money means no midday meal for many school kids

Midday meals being served to school children.

By Sankar C.G.

BANGALORE (Jan. 10)—Thousands of school children across the city might soon go without a midday meal as 19 nongovernmental organizations that cater for schools in Bangalore are on the verge of shutdown.

The zilla panchayat district council, under which the Rural and Urban Bangalore districts come, has not released funds for the last three months, according to Samarthan, a city-based NGO.

This number was confirmed by A.M. Moorthy, a staff member of the zilla panchayat.

The principal of each school that is a beneficiary of the Akshara Dasoha midday meal scheme must give the student count to the zilla panchayat through the block education office.

The zilla panchayat pays the NGOs in accordance with the number of students receiving the midday meal.

A.M. Moorthy, an officer at the zilla panchayat, said: “We have not received the verified expenditure bill from the block education office. Once we get the bill we will release the fund in a day itself.”

“We have given all the bills on time—only the December bill is pending, which we will release soon,” said Yellappa, an officer from the block education office, denying the claims of the panchayat.

1,000 schools benefit from scheme

There are 3,256 government-aided schools in Bangalore according to the Public Instruction Department of the Karnataka government. More than 1,000 schools are getting midday meals through the NGOs, Samarthan said.
“The delay in releasing the funds is not a new incident, but this time there is a delay of three months,” said Krishnaiyah, a member of Samarthan. “Our Rs. 2 million is pending with the zilla panchayat. Similarly, all the other NGOs, too, are facing problem.”

A representative of a city-based NGO that did not wish to be named said: “We have spent Rs. 2.3 million of our private funds providing midday meals in 53 schools in Bangalore. If this is the condition, we will be forced to shut down very soon.”

The midday meal scheme was introduced in 2002 in seven northeastern districts of Karnataka. This scheme was later extended to 20 districts in the state under Akshara Dasoha during 2003.
The scheme was intended to improve enrolment, attendance, information retention, health and learning levels of schoolchildren.

“After implementing the midday meal scheme, the attendance of students has increased to our satisfaction,” principal of the Gollahali government high school.