Distribute midday meal to guardians: West Bengal authorities to schools as summer vacation continues

Due to the hot and humid conditions, the state administration has announced an 11-day extension of summer vacation from June 15 to June 26.

With the West Bengal government extending the summer break at state-run and aided schools by 11 days to June 26, the School Education Department has requested that midday meal supplies be distributed to guardians between June 20 and 26.

The Project Director, Midday Meal Programme, notified district officials on Tuesday to ask schools to deliver rice, potato, sugar, pulses, and soap to guardians on specific dates and locations between June 20 and June 26. The school distribution centre will provide each guardian with 2 kg of rice, 2 kg of potato, 250 gm of sugar, 250 gm of legumes, and one soap.

Similar steps were taken by the state in mid-May, once summer vacation had begun, to ensure that children were not deprived of midday meal facilities owing to campus closures.

"After the vacation was prolonged owing to hot and humid weather, we have decided to supply midday meal supplies to school children for the second time over the summer holidays," a school education department official stated. "If we wait until the schools reopen on June 26 after the vacation, students will suffer as many of them look forward to this."

This will be the second time, following May, school children will be given midday food supplies during the summer vacation. Previously, when schools were closed due to a pandemic, such supplies were distributed to kids.

"We welcome the notification," said Akhil Maity, the headmaster of a primary school in the Purba Medinipur district. Many low-income families are looking for a noon meal. During the lockdown, we supplied noon lunch items to our school's guardians in the Kanthi region."

Due to the hot and humid conditions, the state administration has announced an 11-day extension of summer vacation in state-run and state-aided schools from June 15 to June 26. The schools were initially supposed to open on June 15.