With the West Bengal government extending the summer break at state-run and aided schools by 11 days till June 26, the School Education Department has requested for the midday meal supplies to be sent to guardians between June 20 and June 26.
The Project Director, Midday Meal Programme, sent a notification on Tuesday asking district officials to ask schools to deliver rice, potato, sugar, pulses, and soap to guardians on specific dates and locations between June 20 and June 26. The school distribution centre will provide each guardian with 2 kg of rice, 2 kg of potato, 250 gm of sugar, 250 gm of legumes, and one soap.
Similar steps were taken by the state in mid-May, once summer vacation had begun, to ensure that children were not deprived of a midday meal facility owing to campus closures.
According to a representative from the Department of Education, “"we have decided to provide midday meal materials to school children for the second time during the summer holidays after the vacation was extended due to hot and humid conditions, Otherwise if we wait till the schools opened after the vacation on June 26, students will suffer as many of them look forward to this."
The Headmaster of a primary school in Purba Medinipur district Akhil Maity said, “We welcome the notice. Many poor families are on the lookout for midday meal. During lockdown, we had distributed midday meal items among guardians from our school in Kanthi area..."
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