The Central government has decided to form a joint team of officials from the Ministry of Education and the State government to examine the “improbable” claims made by the State about almost 100% of enrolled students in pre-primary availing midday meal on a daily basis in 2022-23.
The issue was flagged during a meeting of the Programme Approval Board (PAB) of the PM POSHAN scheme, formerly known as the midday meal scheme.
All 14 districts in Kerala had claimed that 100% students in the Bal Vatika (below Class 1) have been receiving midday meals.
“The PAB observed that in the districts, almost 100% of the enrolled children in the pre-primary have been shown as availed school meal on all working days.
“This seems highly improbable. The PAB decided that a team comprising representatives from the Central and State government may visit a few districts to ascertain the ground-level picture to verify the authenticity of the reported coverage by cross-verifying data from various levels -- schools, blocks, and districts,” according to the minutes of the meeting.
The PAB has also advised the State to put a robust and fool-proof mechanism to ensure that data are entered through correct and real-time reporting of the actual number of students who availed the school meal on each working day.
Follow QPR format
“The PAB also advised the State to ensure that data on the coverage of students from districts may be captured in the format of Quarterly Progress Report (QPR) for greater transparency, accuracy and accountability, as the State has informed that capturing of data at the district level in district QPRs is not in practice in the state,” the minutes said.
The minutes show that the Kerala government claimed that of the 16.91 lakh children enrolled in the State’s primary schools (government and government-aided), 16.69 lakh (99%) availed of midday meals on all working days, while the corresponding numbers are 11.45 lakh and 10.85 lakh (95%) in the case of upper primary grades.
