Sindh government plans free lunch at schools

Khuhro says move to help increase enrolment

KARACHI:

While Article 25-A of the Constitution says the State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children between five and 16 years of age, many parents find one or the other excuse to not get their kids enrolled.

In such circumstances, the Sindh education and literacy department has come up with yet another idea to encourage people to enrol their children: free lunch for students.

After biometric verification and identification of ghost teachers, the department has come up with the free lunch project. Government schools will provide free lunch to their students to increase enrolment.



According to education minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, the department came up with the idea as many people send their children to madrassas since they charge no fee and also provide free lunch. He said the department is planning to do the same to attract students.

While explaining how they plan to make the project a reality, education and literacy department secretary Fazlullah Pechuho said the department requires a year to implement the scheme.

Trial and error

Initially, the programme will cater to around 250 big schools in the province with an equal number of boys' and girls' schools. If it works out effectively, the scheme will then be extended to the rest of the province, said Pechuho. The budget and menu have not been determined yet but will be finalised this month.

In the coming weeks, the secretary will have a meeting with World Bank officials to discuss the project. "May be the fund for the project will be provided by them," he added.

Cost and breakfast

The cost for a lunch of one dish per child will be somewhere between Rs50 to Rs60, estimated Pechuho, adding that the department will try to provide both quality and quantity with at least one meat item and one rice item daily. "The idea of providing breakfast is also on the cards and the department might implement both, with one boiled egg and a milk pack for breakfast," he said.



Maintaining quality

To maintain good quality and effective distribution, the project will work on public-private partnership with a third party selected through an open bidding. Caterers will ensure that fresh food is provided to the schools daily. "The [caterers] who will be given the responsibility will be those who have their centres nearby so they can easily provide food to schools daily," explained the education secretary. He also said that to maintain good quality, a team will be tasked to conduct a weekly surprise check on the food. "This is to avoid complaints against theft of food or packed items like eggs and milk packs," he said.

A balanced diet

Meanwhile, the chairperson of the food science and technology department of Karachi University, Professor Dr Abid Hasnain, explained what type of food should be given to school-going children with respect to their age group. He said that primary school children, aged between five and 10 years, are in the growing phase. "These students should be given a balanced diet with protein, fats and carbohydrates," he said. Children need to consume energy to play and be active in school, he said. For students aged between 11 and 15 years, Hasnain said a balance of protein should be kept in mind before giving them anything to eat. "In this age, students usually face a deficiency of calcium," he added.

He remarked that nowadays children normally eat junk or packaged foods in lunch, which is harmful for their health. He further emphasised that hygiene of food must be ensured. "Homemade hygienic food should be a preference in this age for children," he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2016.