4 min readMumbaiUpdated: Jan 25, 2024 06:45 PM IST
The audit will examine various key documents, including records of stocks of rice and other grains, payments made to government accounts, expenditure vouchers, and certificates related to utilities and student health check-ups. (File Photo)
Identity cards of children studying in government schools in Maharashtra will now have visible green or red dots, indicating vegetarian or non-vegetarian food preferences of students, to facilitate the distribution of bananas (or any local fruit) or eggs under the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti scheme. The state has asked school management committees to take required steps for the new arrangement.
The decision has drawn flak from across the education sector with educationists calling it an “unnecessary classification”.
In November last year, Maharashtra’s school education department announced adding additional items with midday meals — bananas (or any local fruit) for vegetarians and eggs for non-vegetarians – to enhance nutrition value. A circular was issued on Wednesday for the plan’s effective implementation, wherein the government suggested red and green dots on students’ identity cards, among other things.
“Under this novel initiative of facilities to children at the school level, if a parent has consented for its ward to eat egg, there should be a clearly visible red dot on the identity card of that particular student. If a student is vegetarian or his/her parents has not given consent for the consumption of eggs, there should be a green dot on the child’s identity card. This will ensure convenient distribution of eggs or bananas in schools,” stated the circular which told respective school management committees to begin taking steps for the new arrangement.
Raising concerns, senior educationist, Vasant Kalpande, said, “Implementing this scheme could have been possible without marking each individual student’s identity card. Considering the variety of cultural backgrounds in our society, there will be students who may have consented to eating eggs but do not eat non-vegetarian food on certain days. In that case, will those students have to eat eggs now because their identity cards show a red dot?”
According to teachers, this information could have been made available by maintaining a record in the school’s register to serve midday meals. “The children do not have to be classified on this,” said a teacher from a zilla parishad school in Maharashtra adding that in most cases, teachers already know this information and that the children too were capable of communicating their choices.
Another teacher also raised the consequences of this classification, “Are we creating new groups among young children?” he asked.
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Spokesperson for Maharashtra School Principals Association, Mahendra Ganapule, said, “In order to make adequate and effective arrangements, there are ways to make such information available in the school’s register. There is no need for children to wear it on their identity cards.”
Among other points clarified in the latest circular on the additional items in midday meals, eggs will not be served in schools where 40 per cent of students have asked for bananas. Many teachers have slammed this, raising question over 40 per cent being considered the majority. Educationist Kishor Darak, said, “This is an absurd definition of majority. The circular forces all children to have bananas if 40 per cent vote for it. But it doesn’t given any choice to schools receiving midday meals from organisations known to spread vegetarianism through meals that don’t have onions and garlic.”
The state had also identified the ISKCON-run Annamrut Foundation and Akshayapatra organisation to serve bananas in schools located in urban areas where these centralised kitchens already provide midday meals. In semi-urban and rural areas, women self help groups will provide the additional items with meals.
Pallavi Smart is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, Mumbai Bureau. Her reporting is singularly focused on the education sector, demonstrating exceptional Expertise and Authority across the entire spectrum of learning, from foundational schooling to advanced higher education. She is a highly Trustworthy source for policy, institutional developments, and systemic issues affecting students, teachers, and parents in Maharashtra.
Expertise
Senior Role: As a Principal Correspondent at The Indian Express, her designation reflects her seniority, specialized knowledge, and the editorial rigor applied to her reporting.
Core Authority & Specialization: Pallavi Smart is the definitive voice for Education news in the region. Her coverage scope is comprehensive:
Policy and Regulatory Changes: Reports on major shifts in educational policy, including the restructuring of entrance exams (e.g., MHT-CET adopting the JEE Main model), the draft regulatory framework for coaching classes, and revised teacher recruitment processes.
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs): Provides in-depth reporting on prestigious institutes like IIT Bombay and TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences), covering institutional initiatives, administrative debates (e.g., renaming IIT Bombay), and student welfare programs (e.g., mandatory mental health courses).
Teachers and Eligibility: Covers crucial issues affecting the teaching fraternity, such as the mandatory Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) for in-service teachers and related controversies and application numbers.
Student Welfare & Rights: Focuses on issues concerning students, including the rollout of government scholarships, the financial strain on schools due to midday meal reimbursement delays, and instances of child rights violations (e.g., the Powai studio hostage crisis).
Admissions and Vacancy: Tracks the outcome of centralized admission processes (e.g., MBBS, BPharm) and analyzes vacancy concerns, providing essential data-driven insights for parents and students.
Credentials & Trustworthiness
Dedicated Beat: Her consistent focus on the "KG to PG" education beat allows her to develop unparalleled subject matter knowledge, ensuring her reports are accurate, detailed, and contextualized.
Proactive Reporting: Her articles frequently break news on policy and institutional planning, providing the public with timely, essential information about a sector that directly impacts millions of families.
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