Senior education officers at Education directorate do not know the actual status of Midday Meal Scheme execution due to incomplete reports of department officers. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) state project director Radhika Jha has directed department officers to submit complete report of their government school inspections.
The district education officers said they inspect around 10 schools each month and submit the inspection report to directorate.
According to them, they did not submit the detailed inspection reports regarding students’ attendance on the day of inspection, food served to the students, students’ opinion about food and status of MDMS register. As per instructions, the department officers were told to report only the number of schools inspected in a month, they added.
Senior officers expressed disappointment at monthly report submitted by the department officers. They said that in several meetings, all the district education officers were directed to submit detailed report of their inspected schools. A senior education officer said that he had recently inspected six schools . At some places, vegetables were not included in the meal given to students under MDMS.
SSA state project MDMS joint director in-charge Praminder Bisht said that he receives monthly reports from district education officers only on number of schools inspected. In fact, the officers did not mention the difficulties faced by teachers while executing the scheme in their schools.
The SSA director said that reports submitted by the department officers are not sufficient to know the actual status of MDMS execution. The chief education officers were directed to inspect 10 schools monthly and 15 schools were assigned to block education officers.
They were directed to submit detailed inspection report by 10th of each month. To know actual status of MDMS execution, she has formed a team comprising SSA experts and coordinators who have been directed to inspect schools and submit detailed report to the department soon.
Education officers Kishan Swaroop and DS Rana have been deployed in Dehradun district; Pulam Singh Chauhan and K Gairola in Haridwar; Kamla Barwal and Umesha Gusain in Udham Singh Nagar, Ajay Naudiyal and K Bijalwan in Uttarkashi; Sanjeev Joshi and Arun Thapliyal in Almora and Bageshwar; Praminder Bisht and Arun Bisht in Pithoragarh and Champawat; Subhash Bhatt and VP Semwal in Tehri; MS Bisht and BP Maindoal in Pauri; Uma Panwar and Jagdish Sajwan in Chamoli and Rudraprayag.