Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, December 16 2009:
Irrespective of the efforts being made by the Government to improve the administration of its School Education Department, it remains the most corrupted Department so much so that over Rs 10 lakhs had been withdrawn as expenses on firewood even for the period of 'no cooked meal have been served to the students' under the Mid-Day Meal scheme.
According to a reliable source, as there was no rice in the stock of FCI, no cooked meals have been served under the Mid Day Meal Scheme to the students of the schools under the Department during OctoberDecember last year.
However, the Zone-II of the Department had withdrawn the honorarium of the cooks as well as the expenses on firewoods for the said period.
The honorarium related to over 200 schools under Zone-II of the Department.
Together with this amount, the expenses reportedly spend on purchasing firewoods for cooking the meal have been withdrawn although students have not been provided any cooked meal during the period from October to December last year, the source disclosed.
It is said that during 2007-08, cooked meals have been provided to the students under the Mid Day Meal scheme for 220 days whereas in the current 2008-09, it is 130 days in the primary school level and only 61 days in the upper primary level.
As of 2008-09, the scheme has covered 1,94,033 students in 2943 primary schools in the State while 333,658 students in 548 upper primary schools.
It may be noted here that to facilitate successful implementation of the scheme and ensure its benefits to the students, the State Government has launched helpline, etc of the School Education Department from this year.