While nearly 2500 schools in Uttar Pradesh and 16000
schools in Karnataka already has kitchen gardens in schools, Manipur will be
the next state to develop these gardens in the Government schools. The schools
in Manipur have completed the training to cooks for mid-day-meal now the
development of nutrition gardens within school campus is in the pipeline.
In December 20117 the Government ordered all the schools
in every state to develop kitchen gardens in the convergence of MNREGA. The
news of faulty foods showed how the scheme have played with the lives of children.
Government then decided to develop the kitchen gardens in the school campus and
let the children grow their own food.
The idea behind this scheme is to encourage children to
grow plants, vegetables, and fruits.
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| Assam Kids growing their food |
The same trend was witnessed in 500 schools across seven
districts of Assam. More than 50,000 students from grade 6, 7 and 8 are
actively involved in growing different varieties of vegetables in the backyard
of their respective schools in Assam.
As per the MHRD instructions, those schools that do not
have land available can raise a terrace garden and use pots, containers or
bags. The gardens will have to be managed by the children, mainly with the help
of staff and teachers.
As per the reports in Asian Age on 6th August
2019, Anupama Jaiswal, Minister for Basic Education in UP said "The MHRD
will allocate Rs 5,000 per year per school for the purpose and each school will
have to work out its own plan considering what variety of vegetables or fruits
can be grown in the locality."
The question remains will these Rs. 5000 is enough to
grow vegetable throughout the year?
Is government not playing with the lives of children? Will
there be audit for this Rs. 5000/-?
The government have made some amendment in their
Mid-Day-Meal menu and added staple food and vegetables growing in that particular
region along with their preferred choices.
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| Chhattisgadh Government dstributes eggs at home and not at schools after the protest |
According to the latest data available, 9.46 crore
children were covered under the mid-day meal scheme in 11.34 lakh schools
during 2017-18 with 25.06 lakh cook-cum-helpers involved.
Hope this move will help the under privileged children
to enjoy good, safe, balanced and tasty food.
Details for the funding to the Mid-Day-Meal Project
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