PANAJI: Over 94,000 primary school students in Goa will be served ragi laddoos three times a week, spread over two months, as a supplementary nutrition in the midday meal for the current academic year 2023-24.
A project approval board (PAB) of the Union education ministry has approved the proposal, and the state and Centre will together spend Rs 1.5 crore for the supplementary nutritional item.
Earlier, egg had been approved as a supplementary item to be provided in addition to the usual midday meals, but the state could not begin providing it.
“After detailed discussions, PAB-PM Poshan approved the proposal of the state government to provide supplementary nutrition items i.e. ragi laddoos to 94,121 primary school students at an estimated expenditure of Rs 146.8 lakh, comprising Rs 88.1 lakh as Central share and Rs 58.7 lakh as state share. The state government is advised to provide the supplementary nutrition items by the third quarter of 2023-24,” the PAB meeting minutes state.
While many states provide supplementary nutritional items along with the midday meals like milk, fruits and eggs, Goa government has not been able to supply such items yet. Though the Goa government shells out a higher sum than most states as state share for the midday meals, chief minister Pramod Sawant has also stated in the past that the quality of the meals needs improvement.
The PAB has also advised Goa that millets should be included in the midday meals.
“PAB observed that Shree Anna or millets are group of small grains - abode of vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, and antioxidants that can help to reduce several nutritional deficiency diseases. The UN General Assembly recently adopted a resolution and declared 2023 as the ‘International Year of Millets’. The state government was advised to use Shree Anna in meals once a week under PM Poshan,” the PAB meeting minutes read.
From Goa, the education officials who attended the PAB meeting have conveyed to the Centre that the state has already began offering ‘tithi bhojan’, as recommended under PM-Poshan. Under the scheme, any citizens can volunteer to sponsor nutritious packed meals or fruits to students of any school to mark special occasions like festivals.
“The secretary advised the state to ensure that the menu is devised in such a manner that variety food items may be prepared to increase the interest of students in the school meals while adhering to the quantities as prescribed under the guidelines,” the PAB meeting minutes state.
Gauree Malkarnekar, senior correspondent at The Times of India, G...
Read MoreGauree Malkarnekar, senior correspondent at The Times of India, Goa, maintains a hawk's eye on Goa's expansive education sector. And when she is not chasing schools, headmasters and teachers, she turns her focus to crime. Her entry into journalism was purely accidental: a trained commercial artist, she landed her first job as a graphic designer with a weekly, but less than a fortnight later set aside the brush and picked up the pen. Ever since she has not complained.
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