Bhubaneswar: Odisha government has directed district education officers (DEOs) to make all necessary preparations for serving mid-day meal to the students on the first of reopening of schools.
In an official letter to DEOs on Thursday, the State Project Management Unit (PM Poshan) under the School and Mass Education (S&ME) department said midday meal is the right of every child (6 to 14 years) attending schools from Class I to VIII.
“No child should be deprived of his/her right because of the unpreparedness on the part of school management authorities of central kitchen agencies. Therefore, all sorts of preparedness and precautions are to be taken beforehand to serve midday meal from the first day of reopening of schools on June 18,” said Raguram R Iyer, state nodal officer, PM Poshan, in the letter.
The department also instructed to ensure a safe MDM. “Since during the vacation, the unutilised MDM rice, oil, condiments, dal, soya chunk and other MDM materials would have been infected, damaged or become inedible, adequate precautions are to be taken to check the edibility of the available MDM ingredients before handing over the same to cook-cum-helpers or Self Help Groups (SHGs) for cooking and serving,” the letter said.
It further directed to strictly ensure that the message of Edibility Test is carried out in every school by the Headmaster to avoid any MDM mishap or food poisoning. This is to be verified and ensured by CRCC and BEO in the field. The DEOs, BEOs and CRCCs should make random check of Mid-Day Meal ingredients on the day of opening of schools to prevent any untoward incidents.
On the day of reopening of schools, the cooking place should be clean and safety protocols regarding CCH, drinking water and MDM ingredients strictly followed, the nodal officer said in the letter.
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