The Hindu Business Line : Noon meal scheme

As an Indian one felt very proud of Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's assertion in his Budget speech that the midday meal scheme, reaching 8 crore Indian children, is the biggest such programme in the world. In the Kashipur villages of Orissa, stalked by starvation deaths in 2001 and earlier, one could see a direct benefit of this scheme. In any malnourished society, children are the most susceptible, but today if the children in this belt are not dying of hunger, a major reason is the noon meal.

Vouching for this, Jagobandhu Majhi, an unemployed 21-year-old man in Bilamala village says, "We have many schools where the teachers don't come to teach, but the children attend school daily because whether the teacher comes or not, the noon meal is served." NGO representatives say the quality is not great and part of the funds are siphoned off by the district administration and the teachers, but the fact remains that in an area where rice is considered a luxury, the child gets his/her share of rice, dhal and a vegetable. Once a week an egg is served too.

But while this scheme gives the child nutrition, the schools have little education to offer because absentee teachers are more a rule than an exception.

This results in a high dropout rate at the secondary school level. K. Bhanumathi, Director of the NGO Samata, says at some point the tribals get disenchanted with the education system. "It not only lacks quality, the support required for higher education after school is not there. The education policy is pushing for privatisation in higher education and there aren't too many professional courses offered in tribal areas."

A tribal student who wishes to pursue higher education outside his region lacks the financial support to do so. Also, these children feel discouraged because of the poor marks they get. "They are failing in subjects not because they lack knowledge in the subject. For instance, take natural science. An 8-year-old child will tell you the name of animals, birds and plants which none of us will know. They've grown up in the habitat and know it; but our education system lacks the recognition of that knowledge. Why do they fail in Botany and Zoology, something that they live with? Maybe they cannot reproduce it in the package we want. And children who've never lived with animals or plants get 95 per cent!"

More Stories on : Social Welfare | Children & Parenting | Education

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