Good mornings - Free Breakfast

[prasad1]

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The Hindu - SUBHA J RAO

A free breakfast scheme at PSG Sarvajana HSS allows children from underprivileged homes to eat a healthy meal at the start of day, finds out Subha J Rao


It’s eight a.m. and there’s a steady trickle of students to the PSG College of Technology canteen. Among them is a bunch of school kids who walk in, mark their attendance, and eat a hot, filling breakfast of idli, sambar, chutney and a pongal or khichdi. Then, they cross the overbridge into their school and their respective classes.


Just three months ago, during the morning assembly, children, sometimes, would crumple to the ground in a faint. In the first period, teachers would face students who were listless and had little energy to concentrate on class.


That’s when the teachers and management of PSG Sarvajana HSS decided something must be done to help the children. They spoke to many of the students and their teachers and discovered that nearly 100 children (from Classes 6 to 12) in the school were going without breakfast.

......

Ninety-seven children are part of the free breakfast scheme, and on any given day, about 70 of them turn up for breakfast. A student is nominated to mark attendance. To ensure the quality of food, teachers check the contents on the breakfast table and occasionally eat there too. Three teachers — T. Srividhya, S. Sivakumar and Beulah Joy Margret — are vital members of the programme.



Bravo to the young people who are freed from the stereotypes, they are the true leader.

 

[DR.C.NARAYANI]

Hello Prasad sir ,the OP remains the ,main concept of starting the MID DAY MEAL scheme in TN ,by our great late thiru .kamaraja ayya .his intention was children should get both education ,basic food. that was a great thought and implied and results were as and more than expected .but later or now ,the standard ,quality became more to questionable.

 

[prasad1]

Hello Prasad sir ,the OP remains the ,main concept of starting the MID DAY MEAL scheme in TN ,by our great late thiru .kamaraja ayya .his intention was children should get both education ,basic food. that was a great thought and implied and results were as and more than expected .but later or now ,the standard ,quality became more to questionable.

Dr, you are right, but sometimes government's well laid out plan is not implemented because of corruption or bureaucracy.
In a village in Tanjore district, we funded a school. Before starting the school, we enquired about the Government school in that village. It turns out that government has been paying for a 40 student school, with teachers from grade 1-12, and mid day meals etc. They even gave us the address of the school and the name of the headmaster. We went and talked with the headmaster, who was living lavishly. He told us that students do not want to learn, and teachers leave to go to big cities.

The private school has been running mainly on donations. They have 140 students and 16 teachers. A building for 10 class rooms, and other facilities. They even provide computer labs for students and their parents.

Sometimes private initiatives are more efficient, and less corrupt.

 

[manoharkumar]

Dear Prasad Sir,
You are on dot correct. I am also associated with the Aid India back to school projects and on our Co. CSR activity. We have provided for one building with dry toilet for the after school in a snall village near Chennai in Kanchipuram distrct. Once you go out and do these activities then only one can understand the good measures of the govt does not reach the grass root level due to middlemen activities and some take advantage and deprive the lowest class of their basic rights.
The private NGO etc are able to work more because they have the resposibiity to show their sponcers that some activity is happening or loose out sponsors. We can be happy that because of that atleast some section of the poorest are getting their education, schooling , shelter and food regularly.
Govt, instead of freebies can give the same at a cost and be responsible to maintain the availability as consumer is paying for that and not getting it free. People would prefer to have power continuously and will be willing to pay for it and not free and that too for only one hour in a day.

cheers.