Story of Change

Midday meals, a sucess story

Mor Gram Panchayat block is situated about 20kms away from Petlawad in Jhabua district. Most of the residents of the panchayat belong to the Scheduled caste dependent on agriculture and unorganized labor for their living. The total population of the panchayat is 2400 comprising of 1300 males and 1100 females. The panchayat has 5 primary schools and one middle school, out of which 1 middle school and 1 primary school are situated in the same hamlet. In all the schools there is provision made for mid-day meal but it came to notice that the students of the primary school had to go to Anganwadi for the mid-day meal. The Anganwadi was 200-300 meters away from the school premises and the children had to daily walk to the Anganwadi. The children informed that there was no proper arrangement for seating and the children would sit on the floor and the food would be served. Samarthan team discussed the matter with the SHG responsible for the preparation of the mid-day meal. It was informed by the SHG that the kitchen in the school was given to another SHG responsible for preparation of the mid-day meal. The lack of space posed difficulty to cook for both SHG to simultaneously use by them. After which meetings with parents, SHG members, panchayat representative and school authorities conducted in which it came to light that the SHG members responsible for preparation of mid-day meal was also responsible for preparation of the meal for anganwadi. After discussion it was mutually agreed that a spare room will be used as kitchen by the SHG to prepare the mid-day meal so that the food can be served to the primary school children within the school premises. Through Samarthan’s intervention and mediation in the matter now the mid-day meal is served to the students of primary school within the premises.