State to rope in Self-Help Groups to buy ingredients for mid-day meals

Kolkata: The state government has decided to engage Self-Help Groups (SHGs) for purchasing the necessary ingredients for the mid-day meal in schools. The teachers or the non-teaching staff of the school who have been buying materials for mid-day meal will be soon relieved of their additional responsibility.

The managing committees of the school will maintain vigil on the entire process of purchase of ingredients, cooking and serving of mid-day meal to the students.

Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi recently held a meeting of the State Programme Monitoring Committee at Nabanna where such a decision was taken. Officials from the state Education department, Panchayats and Rural Development (P&RD) department, Food and Supplies department and the District Magistrates were present in the meeting.

According to Nabanna sources, a pilot project regarding the same will be taken up from April 1 in four to five blocks in every district. If it works properly, it will be rolled out in the entire state.

Mahasanghas have been set up in each of the 344 blocks in the state comprising SHGs. The state government wants to conduct the financial implications of mid-day meal through these Sanghas. They will be purchasing raw materials like pulses, potato, cooking oil, spices etc required for preparation of mid-day meal in schools.

The teachers and non-teaching staff were unable to devote calculative time in educational and administrative activities because of their involvement in mid-day meal work. Besides this, there have been allegations of irregularities in purchasing of ingredients for the meals. This has prompted the state to involve the SHGs in the process. It will further augment the scope of work for the SHGs.

The state P&RD department works for development of the SHGs under the Anandadhara scheme. So, the Education department will soon hold a meeting with P&RD department. There are 84,000 schools across the state and mid-day meal is distributed daily to over 1.2 crore students.

The SHGs will also be given the responsibility for purchase and supply of ingredients required for cooking mid-day meals to the anganwadi centres that come under the aegis of the state Women and Child Development department. This will be implemented in all anganwadi centres from April 1.