Events & Personalities
Decent dining areas
Human resource development minister Smriti Irani is working to have clean and safe areas created where school children can eat their midday meals. She has asked members of Parliament (MPs) to "consider” spending the money they receive under their Local Areas Development Scheme (LADS) for this purpose, reported The Economic Times (ET) on August 29, 2014.
Though the idea is a good one, ET writes, getting MPs to use a portion of the five crore rupees (US $ 8,19,672) they are given annually to spend on constituency programs is likely to be an uphill task. "The focus is on building additional classrooms, toilets. There is, therefore, no provision for dining space,” mentioned a senior official. Nor would this be part of the midday meal funding either where the priorities are to construct kitchen sheds with proper storage space for food grains and other ingredients, though some states like Tripura have provided for dedicated dining space from their own funds.
At present students have to seek whatever free space there is in which to eat their meals, and it may not necessarily be safe or sanitary, ET notes. Also, the proposed dining space has to be necessarily located inside the school compound. "It would take anywhere from six to eight lakh rupees to build a dining space — even a basic one — that would accommodate 150 to 200 children. And we are talking of hundreds of schools,” an MP who did not wish to be named told ET. Using the LADS funds would be difficult as there are other commitments as well, the MP mentioned.
Though the idea is a good one, ET writes, getting MPs to use a portion of the five crore rupees (US $ 8,19,672) they are given annually to spend on constituency programs is likely to be an uphill task. "The focus is on building additional classrooms, toilets. There is, therefore, no provision for dining space,” mentioned a senior official. Nor would this be part of the midday meal funding either where the priorities are to construct kitchen sheds with proper storage space for food grains and other ingredients, though some states like Tripura have provided for dedicated dining space from their own funds.
At present students have to seek whatever free space there is in which to eat their meals, and it may not necessarily be safe or sanitary, ET notes. Also, the proposed dining space has to be necessarily located inside the school compound. "It would take anywhere from six to eight lakh rupees to build a dining space — even a basic one — that would accommodate 150 to 200 children. And we are talking of hundreds of schools,” an MP who did not wish to be named told ET. Using the LADS funds would be difficult as there are other commitments as well, the MP mentioned.
Smriti Irani: concern for children
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