Moriam Begum, a Class II student of Char Jahiruddin Mariam Government Primary School, comes from an impoverished family in Bhola, and the school meal programme was the only initiative she had for staying in school.
Moriam’s father recently died of illness, and her mother is struggling to earn enough money to afford three square meals. Packing tiffin is a luxury for the second grader, and she is now skipping two-three days of school per week due to hunger.
“I want to go school. I want to study. But I now only eat once each day. I get hungry when I go to classes. Mother is discouraging me to go to school. She wants me to start working as a housemaid soon, as we have barely enough money for food since father died,” she explains.
Ever since the government’s school feeding programme ended in December, 2022, hundreds of thousands children – just like Moriam – have been forced to leave their student life behind, as their impoverished families are unable to bear the cost of packing them a decent tiffin.
Md Monir Uddin, assistant teacher of the Char Jahiruddin Mariam Government Primary School in Tazumuddin upazila of Bhola district, told The Business Post that there are 60 students in the institution, and at most 40 are present each day.
But the financial condition of all the 60 students’ families is vulnerable.
Monir pointed out, “Nutritional condition of our students is not good at all. They will drop out if the government does not take any initiative to feed them. We had 200 students two years ago. Now there are only 60.
“A school meal programme can be the immediate solution to bring back students to classes.”
Though Bangladesh has halted the school meal programme, neighbouring nations India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have been expanding the initiative to increase enrollment and schooling.
Besides, Bangladesh has yet to take any effective initiatives to bring back students to schools that had dropped out during and after the Covid-19 crisis.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) 2022 survey showed that the country has a poverty rate of 18.7 per cent. In the past years, 17 per cent of total students drop out before completing primary education.
According to the Annual Primary School Census 2021, the country’s primary schools had 2,15,51,691 students in 2020, but the number came down to 2,01,00,972 the following year. Of the 14,50,719 students who left the schools, around 10 lakh were girls.
There are currently over 2 crore students at 1,30,000 government and non-government primary school across the country. Among those, there are 67,000 government schools, which have around 1.5 crore students.
An analysis of census data shows that the primary schools in Gaibandha, Thakurgaon, and Nilphamari witnessed an increase in their drop-out rate in the last two years, despite enrolment rates being high.
Besides, schools in north, haor and hill regions are still lagging behind in terms of enrollment, schooling and pass rate compared to other districts in the country.
History of school meal in Bangladesh
After the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971, the government started to give school children milk powder in some impoverished areas. The food-for-schooling programme was launched officially in 1993. Rice, pulses and cash were provided the school children.
And later in 2000, the government started provided Vitamin-enriched biscuits.
A larger school feeding programme was launched for the flood-affected families in Jashore back in 2002 as an emergency response.
In 2010, with the assistance of the World Food Programme (WFP), the programme was initiated at the national level and continued until 2014. From 2014 to 2022, the project was extended multiple times.
The government spent Tk 4,991 crore on the feeding programme from 2010 to 2021. Around 5 crore students have benefited from the school feeding programme since 1990, Primary and Mass Education Ministry sources said.
Children were provided cooked meals in fourteen upazilas, while kids elsewhere used to get vitamin-enriched biscuits weighing 75 grams. The project finally ended in 2022.
An unsuccessful initiative
The Primary and Mass Education Ministry had taken an initiative titled “Midday Meal” to in 2020. The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) rejected the proposal with an estimated cost of Tk 19,283 crore.
Later, ECNEC sent it to the Planning Commission in July, 2020. The project was sent to the commission again in February 2021 after costs were reduced to Tk 17,290 crore. But it never saw the light of day.
Govt plans new initiative
The Primary and Mass Education Ministry is planning to reintroduce the school meal programme, and it has designed a proposal. Fruits and eggs will get priority in the scheme, but the cost of this project is yet to be finalised.
Shah Rezwan Hayat, director general of Directorate of Primary Education, told The Business Post, “We will send the proposal to ECNEC after two months. It is still at the primary stage.
“We realise the need for a school meal programme. Many students are unable to afford tiffin. So, we are going to reintroduce the project to support improvised students across the country.”
Programmes in other nations
To enhance enrolment, retention and attendance and simultaneously improving nutritional levels among children, the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) of India was launched as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme on 15th August 1995.
Fourteen states and Union Territories (UTs) are providing eggs to school students from their own resources under the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) scheme.
In Sri Lanka, WFP began its School Meals Programme in July 2003 with only four districts as a pilot in the conflict affected Northern and Eastern Provinces of the country.
In 2005, after the tsunami, the school meals programme was expanded from 4 districts to 6 provinces, covering 15 out of the 25 districts of the country, feeding approximately 400,000 students.
UNICEF has been providing mid-day meals to all children enrolled at the preschool since August 2022.
In USA, Minnesota, New Mexico, Colorado, Vermont, Michigan, and Massachusetts provide school breakfasts and lunches permanently free to all students starting from 2023 regardless of family income, following in the footsteps of California and Maine.
Several other states are considering similar changes and congressional supporters want to extend free meals to all kids nationwide.
What do experts say?
Rasheda K Chowdhury, a noted educationist and executive director of the Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE), said, “Thousands of children were benefiting from the school meal project.
“It was basically a blessing for children from underprivileged regions such as chars, haors and hilly districts. The government should think strongly and reintroduce the school meal programme as soon as possible.”
Dr Manzoor Ahmed, professor emeritus of BRAC University, said, “A good number of families are now facing financial hardship, especially those living in chars, haors and hill districts. The parents are now sending their children out to work.
“But we do not see any initiative from the government to reduce the dropout rate and save the children’s lives. School meal projects have been expanded by many countries. Instead of halting the initiative, Bangladesh should also expand such initiatives.”
