There were glaring shortcomings found in the most important Centrally Sponsored Mid Day Meal Scheme by Union Ministry of Human Resources Development in its implementation in Jammu and Kashmir state. In a specially convened meeting, Union Joint Secretary had pointed out that there was no separate Directorate in J&K for the said scheme since its inception; say 2005-06 despite repeated communications in this regard from the Department of School Education and Literacy. Following the pinpointing of flaws and the scope of improvement in the implementation of the MDMS, the concerned officers of the School Education Department of Jammu and Kashmir Government not only noted the observations of the Union Joint Secretary but promised to improve upon the implementation process making several commitments for overcoming shortcomings and that strict adherence to and complying with the set guidelines would be their priority.
Have the commitments made in this regard been translated into reality ? Has a separate Directorate in Jammu and Kashmir been set up to monitor, supervise and review the satisfactory implementation of the Mid Day Meal Scheme ? Have the basic objectives behind launching of this scheme been really percolated down to the lowest cadre of functionaries vis-a-vis improving the effectiveness of primary education ? How many in the administrative set up of our State Education Department know that to improve the nutritional status of our primary school children, this scheme is critical for the purpose? There are many questions that are really pertinent and must be addressed in order to motivate the poor and disadvantaged children, especially in our far flung and hilly rural areas, to attend schools regularly and to have mid day meals in their schools served to them in order to improve upon their nutritional strength.
It is a cause of concern that the State Government has failed to honour commitments made before the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development on addressing the blemishes and drawbacks in the implementation of the MDMS. We, in this State are, performance wise, far behind other States in ensuring this Centrally Sponsored Scheme succeeding in its core objectives. While it was assured that on or before the end of September 2018 , the shortcomings would be removed including the most important requirement of setting up of MDM Directorate, the commitments have remained confined to the noting of minutes of the meetings and nothing of the sort in respect of implementation. A Director appointed, that too on ad-hoc basis without any manpower or the basic infrastructure, is tantamount to projecting a charade of the process of implementation of the scheme. On the other hand, teachers who should otherwise concentrate on imparting education and upping the level of knowledge to the primary school children are burdened with the task of the MDMS which hampers their teaching schedule.
In respect of coverage under the scheme, Jammu and Kashmir State is one with lowest figures which needs to be addressed seriously. 65 percent coverage at primary levels and 68 percent at upper primary levels as pointed out in the Programme Approval Board meeting by the Union Ministry have not only to be achieved but surpassed too irrespective of the State being economically in an advantageous position compared to other States which perhaps speaks for less coverage but awareness about the meal, primarily being to augment nutritional levels, among the parents would bring about substantial improvement in coverage percentage. The most important and urgent facility of providing LPG facility to all schools in hilly areas for cooking this meal needs to be looked into. Quality, taste and the hygienic way of cooking the meal are other important aspects needing special attention.
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