Bengaluru: Karnataka leader of the Opposition R. Ashoka on Monday accused the Congress government of failing to ensure the supply of essential food commodities for the mid-day meal scheme in government schools, alleging that poor children are being deprived of nutritious meals due to administrative lapses.
In a statement, Ashoka questioned whether the Congress government's guarantee-based governance meant taking food away from the plates of poor children.
He alleged that the government was facing a shortage of funds for development works and farmer assistance, was also failing to pay government employees' salaries on time, and was now struggling to provide meals to schoolchildren.
He said the Akshara Dasoha scheme, intended to address hunger among children in government schools, had become a victim of the administrative failure of the Congress government.
Ashoka said rice supplies had been disrupted due to technical glitches in the payment system and delays in the SNS SPARSH system. As a result, headmasters were forced to borrow rice from neighbouring schools to ensure meals were served to children.
He further alleged that several schools had not received cooking oil and pulses required for preparing mid-day meals for the past eight to 10 days, leaving their kitchen stocks depleted and making it difficult to prepare food for students.
Ashoka said teachers and school staff were being forced to shoulder the responsibility of arranging food supplies, which should have been taken care of by the government. In several schools, teachers were reportedly spending money from their own pockets and purchasing groceries on credit from local shops to ensure children did not miss meals.
He also criticised the situation in which teachers, instead of concentrating on teaching, were forced to run around arranging rice, pulses and cooking oil. The need for schools to borrow rice from one another reflected the extent of the government's administrative failure, he alleged.
Addressing Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, Ashoka questioned why the government could spend hundreds of crores of rupees publicising its guarantee schemes but could not ensure two meals a day for poor children studying in government schools.
He also questioned why funds were readily available for advertisements but appeared to be unavailable when it came to providing food to children.
Ashoka said that while the government spoke about providing quality education, it had failed to properly manage even the system meant to provide mid-day meals to the same children.
Describing the shortage of rice, pulses and cooking oil as a reflection of the government's alleged indifference towards the education, nutrition and future of poor children, he demanded immediate steps to restore supplies.
He urged the government to ensure the uninterrupted supply of rice, pulses, cooking oil and other essential food commodities to schools, resolve technical issues in the payment system and remove the additional burden placed on teachers.
Ashoka said a government that came to power promising guarantee schemes also had the responsibility of guaranteeing mid-day meals to children from poor families studying in government schools. He maintained that no government should be so insensitive as to deprive poor children of food.
This report was published from a wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.