Messy kitchens hit mid-day meal scheme in VMC schools

A kitchen with damp walls, dripping ceiling and garbage strewn around is a common sight in majority of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) schools where mid-day meal is prepared for students. It is a known fact that the students are at risk due to consumption of food prepared in highly unhygienic conditions.

The upkeep of school premises where students have their lunch is also poor complicating things further. Mayor Koneru Sridhar, who is on a mission to set right things in the VMC schools, has so far inspected 25 schools out of the total 105.

Most of the schools do not have proper kitchen sheds for preparation of mid-day meal by DWCRA women. The supply of LPG is also not regular. Some schools do not have basic amenities like drinking water supply and toilets.

The kitchen shed of Padarthi Sundaramma Girls High School in One Town is in a poor state. Mid-day meal for students of neighbouring Gandhi Municipal High School is also prepared at the kitchen, which needs urgent repairs.

School Headmistress B Jayasree said though the poor state of kitchen shed was taken to the notice of the VMC authorities, no steps were initiated to undertake its repair works.

Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) officials recently conducted a survey to construct a kitchen shed with all amenities at a cost of Rs 1.5 lakh on the school premises. But the school authorities are not sure when the proposal materialises.

Expressing her inability to run the school kitchen, DWCRA member Dhanalakshmi said the educational officials were pressurising her to serve boiled eggs to students twice a week though the government was not providing adequate funds for implementation of the mid-day meal scheme.

“The budgetary allocation for each student for provision of mid-day meal is Rs 6.38. The cost of an egg in the open market is Rs 4 now. It is highly difficult to provide mid-day meal to students as per the guidelines with a meagre allocation in the wake of steep rise in general price level.

The monthly honorarium of Rs 1,500 for the cook is also meagre. I am spending more than Rs 3,000 additionally per month from my own funds to feed the children,’’ she said.

The scenario is no different in Maulana Azad Municipal Corporation Urdu High School and SNMC Urdu School, which do not have kitchen sheds. In the absence of kitchen sheds and lack of adequate space on the school premises, it is highly impossible to cook food when it rains.

“We are preparing food under the staircase and in the storeroom. Despite sanction of funds for the construction of a kitchen shed, the structure is yet to come up due to official apathy,’’ said a cook at the Urdu High School.

Speaking to The Hans India, VMC deputy education officer K Durga Prasad said, “We received applications from the schools, which do not have kitchen sheds and adequate space for cooking on the premises.

Proposals for construction of kitchen sheds in the VMC schools were already sent to the RMSA, which oversees the implementation of the mid-day meal scheme.

Though the RMSA is ready to construct kitchen sheds, no contractor is coming forward to construct the structures at the cost fixed by the implementing authority saying that it is highly inadequate.

We will soon come up with a solution after studying the problem as the VMC is committed to effective implementation of the mid-day meal scheme to promote primary education.’’

By Sistla Dakshina Murthy