New Delhi: The Delhi government's decision to extend the mid-day meal scheme to Classes 9 to 12 for its girl students has not been implemented months after it was announced in the budget last year.
However, the education department has now said it is in the middle of expanding the number of suppliers and bringing in a tendering service and that the scheme will be rolled out in the next few months.
“The request for proposal (RFP) is being done and we are in the process of getting the new mid-day meal providers. The contractors have not been changed for the past 10 years and there is a monopoly of those who are empanelled. So we are in the process of getting new suppliers as well," said Atishi Marlena, advisor to education minister Manish Sisodia.
The government had last year announced that it would expand the scheme beyond primary and upper primary classes for girl students in all its schools. Another major decision was that the students would find eggs and bananas on their plates as a part of the scheme.
This was being done with a view to fight malnourishment and anaemia, especially in girl students and was said to be the first time in the country that a state government has extended the scheme to Classes 9 to 12.
"Since we increased the number of students under the scheme, we needed to expand the number of suppliers. And we are also changing multiple rules and everyone has to come under the new guidelines," Ms Marlena said.
However, the proposal has not been cleared so far. She added that the government was working on a strict tendering process under which it will be bringing changes to various clauses such as experience, turnover, quality of meals served, and strict action against contractors if they were found negligent in serving mid-day meals.
The government had in August last year said that it would join hands with Akshay Patra Foundation for mid-day meals. "There will also be extensive checking of the kitchens where the food is cooked before the department grants the contract to a supplier," she said.
