India Unheard: Community Journalist Helps Improve Mid-day Meal Schemes
The Government Primary
School Raipur ,
Chhattisgarh, has become a shining example for other schools in the area. This
is one of those rare schools where the mid-day meal schemes is being
implemented properly. The video made
by Community Correspondent Sarwat Naqvi, documenting this was shown in various
schools across Raipur to encourage
them to improve the quality of their mid-day meals. In today’s video Sarwat
documents the success of his efforts.
On a summer morning in 2011 Sarwat decided to go have a look
at the Primary School in Nimora. He wanted to see how the mid-day meal scheme
was being run there. “I didn’t call ahead to make an appointment because I
thought they might try to put on a show for me. What I saw was very
heartening,” he says. But Sarwat also knew of plenty other cases where the scheme
just didn’t work. He made an appointment with the Block Education Officer and
other teachers from neighbouring schools. They discussed a variety of reasons
as to why this was the case—corruption, apathy and overworked staff, were some
of the factors that prevented children from getting the facilities promised to
them.
“We all decided to do something about the matter and formed
a committee made up of teachers from different schools. We divided the schools
in the district based on the quality of the implementation of the scheme. We
started showing the video about Nimora to the schools performing badly and
found out ways to improve the situation in each case,” he says.
The group has managed to involve women’s self help groups in
a more integrated way so that there is less stress on the teachers to provide
services. The schools in the area are already showing signs of improvement. “The students have become more regular in school. I spoke to
a teacher the other day who told me about how satisfied she feels with her job
once again. The beauty of the mid-day meal scheme is that it goes beyond just
the idea of providing nutrition. If implemented properly, it teaches kids about
everything from hygiene to social inclusion as they eat with children from
different communities. This is a golden opportunity, I feel and I want every
school in this country to have students who are happy and healthy,” says Sarwat
This article was originally published in IndiaUnheard,
first ever community news service launched by Video Volunteers.
