WB govt tells schools to distribute midday meal supplies to guardians as summer vacation extended

Kolkata: With the West Bengal government extending the summer vacation in state-run and aided schools by 11 days till June 26, the School Education Department has asked the authorities to distribute midday meal supplies among guardians within the period of June 20-26.

In a notice, the Project Director, Midday Meal Programme on Tuesday asked the district authorities to ask schools to distribute rice, potato, sugar, pulses and soap among the guardians on designated dates and places from June 20 to June 26.

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Every guardian will be getting 2 kg of rice, 2 kg of potato, 250 gm of sugar, 250 gm of pulses and one soap from the school distribution centre. The state earlier took similar initiatives in mid-May meal supplies once the summer vacation had started so that children were not deprived of midday meal facility due to the closure of campuses.

A school education department official said "we have decided to provide midday meal materials to school children for the second time during the summer holidays after the vacation was extended due to hot and humid conditions, Otherwise if we wait till the schools opened after the vacation on June 26, students will suffer as many of them look forward to this."

After last May, this will be the second time that midday meal supplies will be distributed among school children during summer vacation. Earlier, such supplies were provided to the students during the pandemic period when schools were closed.

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The Headmaster of a primary school in Purba Medinipur district Akhil Maity said, “We welcome the notice. Many poor families are on the lookout for midday meal. During lockdown, we had distributed midday meal items among guardians from our school in Kanthi area..." The state government announced extension of summer vacation by 11 days from June 15 to 26 in state-run and state-aided schools due to hot and humid conditions. The schools were earlier slated to open by June 15.