NALBARI, March 1 � The ongoing mid-day meal scheme being implemented in different primary, upper primary and high schools in Nalbari district as per the Supreme Court (SC) direction has turned into a farce due to the alleged negligence of some officers.
The headmasters of schools have been facing a lot of problems in running the Central Government-sponsored scheme due to lack of funds. Though two months of the new academic session are going to be completed, the department concerned has miserably failed to release the mid-day meal funds.
However, the Nalbari Deputy Commissioner, Ashutosh Agnihotri recently paid sudden visits to schools and on the basis of his report, the District Elementary Education Officer (DEEO), Nalbari Prakash Baruah suspended some headmasters and served showcause notice on some others only because of non-serving of mid-day meal to school children.
According to sources, some headmasters are providing mid-day meal to their children with the funds from their monthly salaries only to avert the DC�s stern action.
The sources further informed that when a Central team visited the district in January to take stock of the mid-day meal scheme being implemented in different schools, the Block Elementary Education Officers (BEEOs) directed the headmasters to provide mid-day meal only to save themselves from any action. The Central team was not at all satisfied as some headmasters did not follow the directive.
After the Central team left the district, the schools are forced to continue with the mid-day meal scheme. Worse still, at the end of February, the Nalbari district administration miserably failed to release the mid-day meal funds. It only provided rice to the schools, that too a very meagre quantity. As per report from the Paschim Barbhag Bahumukhi Samabai Samiti, the schools received 45 grams of rice for each student from Class-I to Class-IV and 60 grams for each Class-V to Class-VII student. According to the headmasters, it is quite impossible to serve prepared meals to a students with this meagre quantity of rice.
The people have urged the Deputy Commissioner to realise the facts of the scheme before taking any stern action against the headmasters. The Deputy Commissioner suspended a teacher under Paschim Nalbari Education Block for not serving mid-day meal.
However, the people have lauded the Deputy Commissioner for paying sudden visits to the academic institutions to ensure a healthy academic atmosphere.
