Kolkata

KOLKATA: Owing to the recent controversy over the poor quality of the food supplied to the students in different schools in West Bengal under midday meal scheme, the state education department has fixed a menu for all the schools in the state. According to a notification issued by the department, the menu will have to be mandatorily followed by the schools.  

The state notification comes after there has been allegations from different quarters that poor quality of food has been served to the children. The entire issue came to the fore when Locket Chatterjee- the BJP MP from Hooghly visited a school in her constituency and allegedly found children served only rice and salt in their midday meal.  

There were also several allegations coming from different schools in Hooghly, East and West Midnapore. “This prompted the state government to swing into action and issue a directive so that the students are not deprived of their legitimate meal,” he added.  

The Midday Meal Scheme is a school meal programme of the Government of India designed to better the nutritional standing of school-age children nationwide where the centre gives 60% of the cost and the state provides the rest 40% of the cost. The program was designed under ‘Sarbosiksha Avijan’ with a purpose to bring the children particularly belonging to the underprivileged section of the society to schools.  

According to the recent data available, the cost of per meal per child in primary school is Rs 4. 48 of which the centre pays Rs 2. 69 and the state gives Rs 1. 79 and in upper primary the cost is Rs 6. 71 of which the centre pays Rs 4. 03 and the state gives Rs 2. 68.