State Government school teachers are all set to dissociate themselves from Midday Meal (MDM) scheme from September 1 onwards.
The Jharkhand Primary Teacher Association has announced that teachers will not involve themselves in preparing food under the scheme as it has not received any response to its demand of interrogating NGOs and Mothers committee who are assigned the job of preparing MDM, instead of teachers for any untoward incident.
“Only teachers were held accountable for the death of as many as 22 students In Bihar’s Saran district, after they consumed poisonous food under MDM,” the association said.
The Association said that it is the NGO and the committee who are liable for any untoward incident and not the teachers. It said that a letter in this regard had been sent to the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary of HRD Department and Director of Primary education but no response received till date.
The Association Secretary Ram Murti Thakur said, “The teachers are all prepared to dissociate themselves from MDM scheme by next month. This decision has been taken to protect the teachers from humiliation and harassment which they face after any mishap.”
According to Thakur, it is not mandatory for the teachers to taste the meal before serving the students. “It is not a compulsion for the teachers to taste the meal, when the entire responsibility of MDM is placed on the shoulders of NGOs and committees then the duty of tasting the meal should also be shifted to them,” he said.
“Teachers play a silent role under the MDM scheme. We help the NGOs and committees in their work. Nowhere in the Act it is mentioned that teachers will be the leading character in the scheme and will be held accountable for any mishap,” added Mukesh Sharma, a teacher at Zila School.
However, a Government official stated that the role of teachers is cleared mentioned in the Act and they cannot shirk their responsibility.
HRD Principal Secretary DK Tiwari said, “It is obligatory for the teachers to taste the meal before it is served to the school students and they cannot restrain themselves from it. I accept that for any mishap only teachers should not be held accountable. To sort out this problem a joint meeting of the teachers’ association and concerned authority will be organized in coming days.”
“A letter regarding this matter has been sent to Director of Primary education and soon a mid-way will be found,” he added.