Home ›› 09 Oct 2022 ›› Front
The government has stopped School Feeding Programme at a time when it can be a strong motivation for bringing students back to their classrooms after the coronavirus pandemic.
The school meal programme has remained stalled since 01 July after around 12 years of the project conducted by the government with the support of the World Food Programme (WFP) in the poverty-prone areas of the country.
Experts say the decision will fuel school dropouts and increase child labour in the post-pandemic time.
Guardians, especially in char and coastal areas, might send their children out to work instead of sending them to schools amid their financial hardship.
The government has stopped the project while India, Nepal, Bhutan and Thailand are expanding their school feeding programmes to bring students back to classes, they said.
The ruling Awami League in its election manifesto 2018 promised to gradually universalize school feeding in villages, slums and city schools where children from poor families attend.
However, instead of expanding or extending the project tenure of the school meal project, the government stopped it
What is school feeding?
Families facing food insecurity and poverty typically struggle to send their children to school. When they do, children often go to school half-fed or unfed and struggle to concentrate during class, with many dropping out of schools entirely.
To resolve the problem, primary school students were provided with meals or snacks to reduce short-term hunger in classrooms so that they could concentrate and learn better and attend schools regularly.
Under the project, Children used to get cooked meals in 14 upazilas while kids elsewhere used to get vitamin-enriched biscuits weighing 75 grams.
The school feeding helps children to stay back at school bridging the gap in primary enrolment, increasing attendance and completion of primary education.
History of school feeding
The aims of the school feeding are to increase enrolment, attendance, prevention of dropout, meet nutrition demand of students and development of primary education.
In 1971, after the liberation of Bangladesh, the government started to give school children milk powder in some impoverished areas to reduce dropout and encourage students to attend schools.
In 1993, in an effort to increase primary school enrollment of children from poor families, Bangladesh launched the Food for Education Programme offering young learners from poor families in rural areas free monthly ration of foodgrains (rice or wheat).
In 2001, the World Food Programme (WFP) started School Feeding Programme for flood-affected families in Jashore as an emergency response with micronutrient fortified biscuits.
In 2003, the number of children supported by WFP under its Country Programme reached 1.2 million. WFP redefined the programme areas in 2005.
The Chittagong Hill Tracts were brought under the School Feeding Programme in 2006 as the coastal belt areas were devastated by Cyclone Sidr in 2007 and Aila in 2009.
However, in 2010 the government with the funding of the WFP started the programme at national level and continued until 2014.
Later, the school feeding programme was extended multiple times from 2014 to 2021 owing to its positive impact on children.
The project tenure ended in June 2021. The accumulated cost of the project was Tk4518.88 crore. Out of this, the expenditure of the government was Tk3, 263.98 crore.
Under the project, 31, 60,000 children at government primary schools in 104 upazilas under 35 districts were given high nutritional quality biscuits as tiffin every day. A student would get 338 kilogrammes calorie from a packet of 75 grams of biscuits.
Apart from this, cooked meals were given to students in 16 upazilas of the country under the project. Although, the project was completed in June last year, a total of Tk473 crore of the government has remained unspent.
With the unspent money, the duration of the project was extended till June 30 this year.
However, the school feeding has been completely stopped since 01 July as the duration of the project has not been extended further.
AKM Rezaul Karim, who had been running the project as an Assistant Project Director, said: “It increased school enrolment and curbed dropout rates. I think continuation of the project is much needed in the post-pandemic time.”
Meanwhile, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on 01 June 2021 turned down a Tk17,290 crore project designed to provide ‘Khichuri’ or other food items as mid-day meals to all primary school students.
At that time, Planning Minister MA Mannan told journalists: “The project was not approved as the Prime Minister was concerned over its implementation. She said cooking meals in schools might hamper studies of students.”
Over one year has passed since then but the new school feeding project is yet to be launched although Prime Minister is positive over the school meal programme.
However, State Minister for the Primary and Mass Education Zakir Hossen said the government was working to introduce midday meal programme for primary school students by next year.
Mentioning that it is the promises of AL’s election manifesto he said a feasibility study had been conducted in this regard and the programme would start in due time.
Educationist Rasheda K Choudhury, also Executive Director of Campaign for Popular Education, said children was facing nutritional losses along with the learning losses due to negative impact of coronavirus pandemic.
School feeding could play a major role in this regard, she observed, adding that it was a blessing for children from underprivileged regions such as chars, haors and hill districts.
“However, it is true that we are also under pressure for various reasons. When economic stability returns, the school feeding project should be started immediately,” she said
