Food for thought: The implementation of the midday meal scheme had reportedly become a major challenge for teachers, with two or three teachers in each school often being assigned responsibilities related to the programme. | Photo Credit: Image for representational use The Karnataka State Primary School Teachers’ Association has urged the State government to establish cluster-level kitchens to prepare and supply midday meals to government schools, arguing that the current system, under which each school prepares meals, burdens teachers and affects academic activities.The association has submitted a proposal to the Principal Secretary of the Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL) and the Director of PM POSHAN, Midday Meals Programme, in this regard.Existing modelThe cluster kitchen model is not entirely new, the association argues. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as ISKCON’s Akshaya Patra and Adamya Chetana already supply midday meals through cloud kitchens in Bengaluru, Hubballi and other urban centres.The association has proposed establishing cluster-level kitchen centres across the State and allocating them to associations, organisations, self-help groups or Stree Shakti Sanghas for the preparation and supply of midday meals to government schools within each cluster.
This, it said, would relieve teachers of midday meal responsibilities and enable them to focus on teaching.Challenge for teachersSpeaking to The Hindu, association president Chandrashekara Nuggali said the implementation of the midday meal scheme had become a major challenge for teachers, with two or three teachers in each school often being assigned responsibilities related to the programme.“This has become a severe setback for educational activities,” he said, adding that cluster-level kitchens could allow teachers to concentrate on classroom instruction. A set of 10 schools is grouped as a cluster in the State.Under the existing system, teachers oversee the procurement of groceries, milk, greens, vegetables, eggs and bananas, besides supervising food preparation and distribution.
They are also required to taste the food before it is served to students and maintain related records on the SATS and Nirantara apps.Teachers are already burdened with several administrative tasks, including the school enrolment abhiyan, student scholarship enrolment and registration, and updating records in the Student Achievement Tracking System (SATS), apart from maintaining attendance records in the Nirantara app. This is in addition to responsibilities related to midday meals.On top of this, teachers are continuously deployed for census and other non-academic duties.
Presently, around 65,000 teachers have been deployed for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Karnataka.The association argued that these responsibilities take teachers away from their core duties of teaching, conducting examinations and improving student learning outcomes.Easy transitionMoving to the cluster kitchen model will not cost much to the government, Mr. Nuggali argued. “There are two midday meal workers in every school.
They could be assigned to prepare meals at cluster kitchens, while the rest handle serving and cleaning. District and taluk officials will oversee the scheme, so cluster kitchen centres can be managed by local organisations, self-help groups and Stree Shakti groups,” he said.