Where The System Failed In Feeding Govt School Children

One of the prestigious and socially effective programmes carried out by the government of Andhra Pradesh is the free midday meal program for government school students. But more often than not, there are these obvious shortcomings with regard to the implementation of this system.

For many decades, now there have been standard complaints about the quality of the groceries and also the taste of the food that’s prepared here. This problem was continuing for as long as we can remember and no government could fully address the same.

This is precisely when IT and human resources, minister of Andhra Pradesh Nara Lokesh took special interest in the same. He accompanied his father and the chief minister Chandrababu to several visits to government schools across the state while testing the midday meal program. This was when everyone thought there would be sufficient change in the implementation.

But the latest shocking incident, where a bunch of government school students were captured on camera while throwing away midday meal food and complaining about the taste has jolted everyone. What is more shocking is that this process of throwing away food has been happening for 3 months as students couldn’t bear the taste and quality.

This incident and the subsequent video immediately gained the attention on social media and pressure mounted on Lokesh. People commented that bigger things were expected from Lokesh to set out on a mission to enhance government schooling but the failure of the very basic midday meal program is a shocker.

The NDA government had been taking special care of the primary school and even started the revolutionary parent teacher meeting programmes to get adequate feedback. The curriculum and school stationary supplies were also enhanced.

It might be a fact that the NDA government could be trying to enhance so many sectors of schooling. But this blatant complaint about the quality and taste of food provided to students undoes most of the good work. This is the point that most people are finding problematic and calling Lokesh and the government to be more watchful.

In all fairness, this issue about school food has been going on probably since many decades. The one government that can consolidated change, this will forever be remembered by the public and it’s perhaps a challenge for Lokesh to make it happen now. He reacted to the incident and said the concerned supply system has been fired and a new program is being implemented to provide quality food.

Providing quality and nutritious food to school, kids is the first and foremost responsibility of any concerned minister and government. This incident now in NTR District school is a hard reprimand to the government. It is their duty to ensure this does not repeat in the future at any cost.