In a major decision, the Haryana Government on Thursday decided to involve mothers of Government school students to conduct quality check of the mid-day meals served to the children.
A spokesman of the Haryana Elementary Education Department on Thursday said, “To ensure that quality mid-day meal is being served to the students, the mothers of Government school students in Haryana would be involved for conducting check on the mid-day meals.”
He said that the quality and weight of foodgrains used for preparing the mid-day meals should be thoroughly checked before these are lifted from the depots of the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The foodgrains should be lifted only from the FCI godowns, not from the stocks lying out in the open.
The day the foodgrains are lifted, the District Elementary Education Officer or Deputy District Education Officer or Block Education Officer would be present. If any complaint regarding the quality of foodgrains is received, the officer present would be held responsible, said he
Also, the District Elementary Education Officers would ensure that whenever foodgrains from HAFED are delivered in the schools, one of the members of self-help groups should be present to receive the delivery and check the weight with the help of weighing machine.
The spokesman said that for mid-day meals, only sealed refined oil, ghee, pulses and spices from good companies would be used. Besides, directions have been issued to prepare mid-day meals in the kitchen not under a tree or in the open. Mid-day meals prepared under the supervision of head of the school and incharge of the mid-day meals should be once tasted by a teacher before these are served to the students.
The meals prepared in government schools should be sent at least once in a month for testing to a laboratory recognised by the Central Government.
In order to ensure smooth functioning of the scheme, quarterly meeting at district level should be held under the leadership of the MP and concerned Deputy Commissioner, said he.
To deal with any emergency situation, phone numbers of Community Health Centre, District Hospital, Deputy Commissioner, District Elementary Education Officer and Block Education Officer should be displayed on a board. All District Elementary Education Officers, Block Education Officers and Block Elementary Education Officers would do surprise inspection of the mid-day meals once a month in every school, the spokesman added.