Food under Midday Meal Scheme will be prepared on smokeless chullahs in the Government schools. The smokeless chullahs will be installed in convergence with Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (UREDA). The Education department has released
Rs77,450 for 10 schools to the districts, said Additional Secretary and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan State project director Radhika Jha.
SSA State project joint director in-charge Pravindra Kumar Bisht said that a total of 10 smokeless chullahs including four in Pauri, two in Rudraprayag, two in Dehradun and two in Chamoli district will be installed in different Government schools. The cost of smokeless chullahs will be shared in the ratio of 50:50 between UREDA and State Government. District officers have been directed to send the name of schools where these chullahs will be installed. As per the report received from Dehradun Education department, smokeless chullah will be installed in Government Inter College Khurbura. The name of other schools is yet to be received from the districts.
He further said that MDMS guidelines have been distributed to all the schools implementing MDMS. The Central Government has appreciated the initiatives of the State Government for cooking food on smokeless chullah in 10 schools in the State.According to him, the training of 15, 000 Bhojan Matas has started in a phased manner through state council of educational research and training (SCERT).
In another development, Bisht said that in order to inculcate habit of washing hands before eating food under Midday Meal Scheme among students, the Education department will provide liquid hand wash or soaps to the schools. According to him, this will be provided to the schools from July this year under National Rural Health Mission. All the school principals and Bhojan Matas have been directed to ensure that all the students wash their hands before eating meal under the scheme in their respective schools in the State, he added.