Day meal helps community schools to lure students

KATHMANDU, Aug 19: When he saw a three-year-old girl peering into a discarded noodle packet inside the school premises, Indra Prasad Gautam, a teacher at Jana Jagrit Higher Secondary School at Mahankal, felt very sorry. Gautam, who is also the coordinator of Child Protection Committee at the school, was very much touched by the incident and often talks about it with his fellow teachers and staffers.



The incident, however, was not new to them as they know that most students of the junior classes are from very poor background and cannot afford to bring tiffin everyday.



All were deeply stirred when Gautam insisted that they must do something to feed the small children. "We talked with the school management committee, nongovernmental organization (NGOs) working at local level and with the representatives of the Village Development Committee (VDC)," said Gautam, adding, "All of them agreed to do something" The teachers also talked with Durgeshwori Bhattachan, a social worker, who has been supporting poor children of the school since long.



Bhattachan used to provide raincoats for students during rainy season, shoes and sweaters in winter and stationary and scholarships to the children from poor background. "We sought her assistance for the daytime meal for children. She was so happy with our proposal that she committed to provide Rs 25000 for the program. A local NGO has provided Rs 15,000," Gautam said.



The school feeds jaulo and rice pudding (kheer) and sometime fruits to the children studying in nursery, KG. This year we have been providing day meal to children of up to grade one. Gautam estimates that the school needs around Rs 55,000 to feed the students for a year.



Padam Bahadur Thapamagar, another teacher of the school, said that the school has gathered sufficient fund to feed small children for this year. He informed that the Mahankal VDC has provided Rs 84,000 from its annual budget to the school to feed day meal to small children. As per the rule, all VDCs have to spend 10 percent budget for the small children.



The school administration aims to provide free day meal to all primary level students, as it says the program showed positive impacts.

The school was in trouble due to declining number of students in lower classes. Thapamagar said that dropout rate in lower classes have declined after they start day meal program.



"Lots of students come to school without eating anything. Such student cannot concentrate on studies and also pick discarded food from dustbins to eat," said Thapamagar, adding, "We started this program targeting those children." He said that parents told them that their kids were excited to go school for gruel and pudding.

Coordinator Gautam informed that about half a dozen community schools of Kathmandu have started day meal program this year. "They were encouraged by our success and have started providing day meal to small children," he added.

Related story

Day meal to all community schools' students demanded