Mid-Day Meals In Schools Must Be Resumed
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
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By Linus Garg
First publised on 2022-03-25 05:14:29
About the Author
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
View all posts by this Author
The government must act upon Sonia Gandhi's suggestion in the Rajya Sabha to resume mid-day meals, or PM Poshan scheme, in schools. The food provided to children in government schools all over the country was stopped due to the pandemic. But now that schools have reopened, it is necessary to resume mid-day meals in order to bring children back to school.
In disadvantaged families, children have been roped in to do odd jobs, help around the house and learning has suffered. Families are constrained due to loss of jobs and drying up of income. Some migrant workers who returned home and were the only earning members have not gone back, adding to the distress. In such circumstances, many families will not willingly send children back to school. But if mid-day meals are resumed, they will send the children in the hope that they will get at least one square meal in school.
Several reports have suggested deep learning loss among primary school children due to the disruption caused by the pandemic. Some younger children have not seen the inside of a school as they were not old enough when Covid struck. While the learning loss will be addressed separately through a concrete national plan, it is now necessary to bring children back to school. Resuming mid-day meals will be one good way to provide incentive to disadvantaged and marginalized families to send their children to schools.
