RANCHI: The students of
government schools in Lohardaga district of Jharkhand will be served
nutritious meals by roving
mid-day meal vans from next month.
Officials of the
Lohardaga district administration on Thursday inked a tripartite
memorandum of understanding (MoU) for rolling out
customized meal delivery vans that will serve mid-day meals to government school students in Lohardaga, Senha and Kisko blocks of the district.
The vans will serve hot meals to the students studying in between classes one to eight, Lohardaga deputy commissioner Binod Kumar told the TOI on Thursday. “The schools in Ghagra and Bishunpur block of the neighbouring Gumla district will also be provided meals. Meals for 40,000 students will be cooked and served every day through this initiative,” Kumar said.
The district administration on Thursday inked a MoU with Jamshedpur based Annamrita Foundation. The foundation will be responsible for cooking and serving hygienic meals to government school students through customized vans. A sum of Rs 4.6 crore will be spent in this project over a period of three years. The money has been contributed by Hindalco Industries as a part of its corporate social responsibility initiatives.
Kumar said the move was aimed at serving hygienic meals of nutritious value to school students. “It will also help maintain classroom attendance and fight hunger,” the officer added.
Government schools in Jharkhand report many dropout cases every year. The
mid-day meal scheme is used as an effective tool to maintain classroom attendance besides fighting hunger. Several cases have been reported in the past where students have fallen ill due to food poisoning after having mid-day meals which were cooked in unhygienic conditions.
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