J-K mid-day meals running on teachers146; money

For seven months, Farooq Ahmad paid from his own pocket to provide mid-day meals in his school.

For seven months, Farooq Ahmad paid from his own pocket to provide mid-day meals in his school. He has not been compensated for the money he spent and is still waiting for his salary. Ahmad is not alone. Hundreds of school teachers in the Valley are spending their money to keep the scheme running.

Ahmad and his colleagues are Rehbar-e-Taleem educational volunteers and are paid a meagre salary of Rs 1000-1500. Not surprisingly they are all under heavy debt. In fact, Ahmad and his two colleagues owe Rs 70,000 to shopkeepers because the J-K8217;s Directorate of Education has failed to provide funds allocated for the midday meals scheme.

8220;We are under heavy debt and can8217;t even move out of our locality. The shopkeepers demand the money and humiliate us,8221; says Imtiyaz Ahmad, a teacher of Government Middle School at Kupwara. 8220;We have been contributing from our own salary but it is insufficient to clear our debts.8221;

In Zone Sogam of Kupwara, the teachers have spent Rs 17 lakh for which they are still awaiting compensation.

The J-K Government admits that there have been mistakes and assures that the issue will be resolved in a few days.

8220;We are aware of it,8221; says J-K8217;s Education Secretary Khazir Mohammad Wani. 8220;We are on it. We have disbursed the amount to the treasury and they teachers would be able to encash their cheques soon,8221; he explains.

However, the misery of the teachers doesn8217;t end her. 8220;Most primary schools have only two or three teachers and with two of them busy with serving meals, academics suffers as a result,8221; says Abdul Qayoom Wani, president of the J-K8217;s Teachers Forum. He blames the Government for being incapable of handling the scheme and calls for an alternative. 8220;If they aren8217;t able to handle it, they should stop it,8221; he says. 8220;The money could be used for infrastructural development.8221;

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Secretary Wani says the scheme cannot be halted. 8220;This is a scheme of the Central Government and we have implemented it at the primary level in 23,000 schools,8221; he says. The midday meal scheme in the Valley has yet another problem. The state Government allots only Rs 2 per student to purchase pulses, vegetables and other ingredients. 8220;Under the guidelines, we have to provide 50 grams each of pulses and vegetable for every student. This costs more than Rs 2,8221; says Haseena Akhter, a teacher in a primary school in Sopore. 8220;Then we have to pay 10 per cent commission to the cook and buy oil, spices and other ingredients. We fail to understand, how we can manage it.8221;