Midday meal in primary schools

Students of the primary schools will get midday meals from November. State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Md Zakir Hossen recently said this. Earlier, it was scheduled to be introduced in July. Again, there was a school meal programme for students in poverty-ridden areas of 104 upazilas. It ended in June last year. In the meantime, a proposal was prepared to expand the programme. Some Tk 14.1 million students of 65,566 government primary schools were to be given the meal. It was for five years at the cost of Tk 179.20 billion. The foreign trip for the officials to learn about the midday meal programme was a part of the project. It drew heavy criticism. Later, the government revised the project. It is now awaiting for the final approval.

Under the programme, children will get nutritious food like high-protein biscuits, milk and eggs. Cooked food like kichuri will be avoided due to the risk of contamination. In fact, a midday meal is a good initiative. It helps to ensure nutrition for the poor children. Many developing countries introduced the programme. They also get a good result. Bangladesh will also benefit in the long run. To make it a success, it needs to be corruption-free.

Farzana Naz

Moghbazar, Dhaka

Fjharna70@gmail.com