No midday meals provided this year

Hubballi: Government schools and its students are in a dire state as the government has not provided midday meals this summer. Over 13 lakh students in primary, higher primary, high schools the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) schools of 160 taluks in the Mumbai-Karnataka and Hyderabad-Karnataka regions, have been affected by this.

Midday meals during the summer vacation were introduced because the State suffered droughts for four consecutive years since 2014. The Hyderabad-Karnataka region is suffering from a drought, pushing farmers into a financial crisis. Also, in the summer, most labourers do not get any jobs. So, the midday meals were the last hope of feeding their children.

“Many parents asked me about midday meals this year. But I had no answer as there was no instruction from the education department,” said Somu who works as a teacher in Koppal. The midday meals were a life saver in most drought-hit places. Since this year they have been removed, things are bound to get worse for the children.

Teachers say that there had been rumours of midday meals being provided this year too, but when the election dates were announced on March 27, no further action was taken. District officials say that the elections might have been a reason in withdrawing the midday meals, owing to lack of personnel. “As we find it difficult to send personnel for poll duty, we cannot have a teacher in school to handle meals,” said a government official in Dharwad.