We wouldn’t send our wards to school unless there was midday meal (MDM). Instead, we would insist them on tending cattle or goats,” said Pradip Muduli, a poor mason of Dhenkanal district.
Himself a school dropout, Pradip recounted his childhood when their family with six brothers and three sisters, besides the parents, had to stay unfed for days together due to lack of rice at home. Many a day, most of them had to subsist on mandia gruel or porridge made from flour, salt and molasses.
Pradip said that every day he and his siblings had to bother about what to eat before setting out for school since one cannot sit in empty stomach in a class room, and admitted that due to their poverty, not only he but all his brothers and sisters had to drop out.
Pradip is very adept at measurement and counting what he mastered thanks to his schooling till 7th class. It is not difficult to know why he is grateful to the Government that MDM is provided for free at school where the poor students are at least able to get a wholesome meal every day. His only son and daughter are beneficiaries of the MDM at their respective schools.
Mid day Meal (MDM), despite having attracted headlines for all the wrong reasons, is surely a succor for lakhs of poor school going kids in the State, which has undeniably played a vital role in pushing up school attendance and checking dropouts. For millions of BPl families, bothering to arrange food for school going children is a thing of the past. It is also true that poverty is no longer a hindrance in getting education for the underprivileged children. Added to their advantage, the Government has also distributed them school uniforms, free books and stationeries, besides bicycles and scholarships. Moreover, attempts are made to make schools girl-friendly as under special schemes latrines and urinals are constructed in all Government schools across the State.
All said and done, the MDM is yet to rise above controversies. Massive corruption in the scheme from top to bottom, lack of concern for hygiene and taste and greed of the measly-paid teachers and fat-salaried officials, besides socio-cultural stigmas, have threatened to derail the programme that caters to need of lakhs of people as the objective is not just about education, but about the nutrition and health of the kids.
MDM often courts controversy for being one of the biggest platforms for underhand deals and gulping of money. The corrupt officials are so obsessive about earning fast buck that they sacrifice the interest of millions of kids at the altar of fattening their pockets. At times, they even don’t bother about the health and life of the kids and say yes to substandard meals.
There are few takers for preparing meals in strict adherence to the hygiene standards and quality. Consequently, unfit meals are served and children are given dal mixed with poisonous lizards.
loot of MDM ration often cast a cloud on the effective implementation of the scheme. Pilferage at several levels has laid roadblocks.
Caste discrimination in appointment of cook and taking meal together also raised controversies at several places. The upper caste people
often dissent meals served to their wards prepared by low cast people and also
meals taken together at a place in close proximity by students of all castes.
The MDM story will be incomplete without reference to the sad injury of students after falling in hot dal containers and those who were hospitalized by eating poisonous meals at various schools in the State.
Though belated, it is heartening to note that the State Government has decided to provide better and tastier meals to the school students and for this, it has hiked the budget.
Given the massive irregularities in the MDM, often many have proposed to discontinue the meal and instead, start providing money to the student’s bank accounts. The teachers at the elementary education have also resented to be assigned the task of running the MDM at schools which they complained as an extra burden and wastage of time. But there are still many who apprehend that discontinuance of noon meal may rob school education of its sheen and direct transfer of cash can hardly help check dropout.