The Kerala government has shut down schools in order to reduce the risk of the spread of coronavirus, but despite its decision to close down the schools and prevent the children from coming to school it has not stopped distributing the mid-day meals to students. The Kerala government has decided to carry on with the mid-day meal system, wherein the food is now being delivered to the homes of these students.
A photo of an Anganwadi teacher visiting a student’s home in order to and over the food was published in Malayala Manorama and has been widely shared on Twitter.
The decision to carry on with the mid-day meals despite the closure of the schools was taken after a special cabinet meeting on Tuesday wherein chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan decided to shut down the schools.
The state government has decided to continue with the mid-day meal scheme and continue feeding its students without asking them to come to school, this decision is being highly appreciated by many other states.
The schools in Kerala have been shut in light of the COVID-19.
Kerala is known to be one of those states in India which has been carrying out the mid-day meal scheme with great efficiency and in the most systematic way ever. The mid-day meal scheme in Kerala serves about 25,84,156 students across 2327 schools(National Programme of Mid Day Meal in Schools:Annual Work Plan and Budget 2018-19, Kerala)
The state government run schools serve mid-day meals to school children from nursery classes to seventh standard. The meals also act as an incentive for children from an underprivileged background to come and attend the schools and to become more attracted to education.
The meals that are served as part of the mid-day meal scheme typically consist of vegetables, pulses, rice, eggs, bananas and milk. The plan to include a wider variety of fruits and veggies is also under way. Kerala has also allocated 14.65 of its expenditure on education at Rs 20,862 crore in 2020-21. 17 Coronavirus cases have been reported in the state so far including three people who have completely recovered. More than 4,180 people are under observation across the state.
The state government is also delivering food to the people who have been kept in isolation for the virus.
