Cir.No.ESE02-27021/92/2021-MDM-CSE Dated: 15.12.2021
Sub : School Education - Jagananna Gonumudda (PM POSHAN) Scheme - Certain instructions issued for adverse news items on PM POSHAN / TMF - Regarding
Immediate attention of the Regional Joint Directors of School. Education and District Educational Officers is drawn to the adverse news items regarding Mid Day Meal in various news papers, electronic media and Social media. When verified by the inspecting officers, some are false news and many are genuine news.
The Regional Joint Directors of School Education and District Educational Officers are well aware that jagananna Gorumudda Scheme is a flagship programme of the Government of Andhra Pradesh and
Government of India. You are well aware that the programme is daily run programme and the meals are meant for improvement in physical and mental health of the children. Any issue in the quality of meals or poisoning of the food affect the children drastically including putting their lives into risks,
The adverse news items from different districts are related to
1. Non supply of the Eggs in time.
2. Non supply of Chikkies in time.
3. Carelessness on the part of HMS/ cooks to verify the damaged eggs while receiving from the suppliers it self and cooking without verification of the eggs quality before hand. This results in vomiting and health issues to some of the students
4. Negligence the part of HMS/ cooks to verify the chikkies while receiving from the suppliers itself and giving to children without verification of the quality.
5. Not providing meals in few schools due to certain issues includingi payment issues / rivalry among cooks/parent committee members.
6. Negligence the part of HMS/ cooks to verify the hygiene of the food and alertness of the cooks to take care so as to avoid falling of certain things like lizards/inserts
7. Non uploading of bills related to cooking costs, honorarium to the cooks in time.
8. Non uploading of bills related to rice/eggs/chikkies in time.
9. Negligence of the storage rooms and storage of the materials like rice, eggs etc...
10. Usage of bad quality ingredients, vegetables, oils by the cooks.
The Regional Joint Directors of School Education and District Educational Officers are also well aware that the Hon'ble Chief Minister gives huge importance to the Jagananna Gorumudda Scheme as it gives nutritional support to 42 lakhs children and has direct impact not only on i their physical and mental health but also the learning outcomes. Any deviation in the implementation of the programme will have direct impact on the children.
The Regional Joint Directors of School Education and District Educational Officers are fully aware that many guidelines on different aspects and components associated with the scheme are given regularly by the Government/State office and a detailed SOP also has been printed and circulated.
For example, the Standard Operating Procedure related to maintaining the quality of eggs from receipt to cooking to the distribution to the chidren has been detailed in page number 27 and 28 of the SOP for Jagananna Gorumudda. However, the HMs and cooks neglect this importance aspect which results in food poisoning cases
The main reasons for the issues/adverse news items are
1. Due to negligence in following the SOP
2. Moreover, the correspondence related to guidelines and other aspects of the scheme given by the state office is not communicated properly to the field levels.
3. It is also learned that the MDM section in the district office lacks superintendents/5r. Assistants/jr Assistants/Data Entry Operators either due to vacancy or by deputing them to other sections
4. In some districts, the AD MDM has been given additional charge of Deputy Educational Officers in certain Divisions, even though the Commissioner School Education has given instructions to not to give additional charges to the AD MDM, in view of the work load of the scheme as well the priority of the scheme.
5. The Regional Joint Directors of School Education District Educational Officers / Assistant Directors (MDM)/ Mandal Educational Officers seldom check the dashboard, even though the dashboard is meant for making the monitoring of the scheme easy for them.
Hence, the Regional joint Directors of School Education / District Educational Officers are here by instructed to note that the adverse news items are viewed very seriously by the Government and by the CMO and are closely monitored. Hence, they are instructed to communicate all the correspondence / guidelines / instructions / SOP / Video tutorials etc., to reach upto the HMs/Cooks levels through online and offline modes / meetings. They are requested to make random visits to schools for analysing the issues and addressing suitable solutions for them..
In this regard a whatsapp number has been put in to service to receive the complaints/suggestions / feedback from the students, parents and general public as per the instructions of the Hon'ble Chief Minister. The whatsapp number (7833888555) has to be widely displayed in the schools, offices and in public places for receiving complaints/suggestions / feedback well in advance so as to take immediate remedial actions. The poster format for the t display of the number is enclosed here with
