Our Correspondent
Kohima | October 31
To implement the Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) in Tuensang effectively and with the vision to achieve the highest quality, the Department of School Education signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Eleutheros Christian Society (ECS), Tuensang, a voluntary organization on October 31 at the conference hall of the Chief Secretary, Nagaland Civil Secretariat, Kohima.
Terming the signing of the MoU as “historic,” FP Solo, Commissioner& Secretary, Department of School Education (DoSE) felt that the success of the agreement will lead to the implementation of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode of providing MDMS in other districts.
With the recent controversies relating to MDMS, Solo appealed for transparency and accountability, which will require the co-operation between the government and head of institution/school management committee. Solo also emphasized on accurate U-DISE figure of the student enrollment to ensure the proper implementation of the MDMS.
Solo hoped that the signing of the MoU would be a success story that can be used as a model for other States. “We are at the bottom as far as MDM is concerned. We have a very poor image in the eyes of the Government of India,” said Solo.
A brief report on Eleutheros Christian Society was shared by Rev. Dr. Chingmak Chang, Secretary, ECS, Tuensang. The work of the ECS is that of a catalyst, one, between the government and the community and, on the other to invest in individuals within government who will pursue that engagement. ECS was founded in 1993 in Tuensang with a special focus on health (mainly drug users, HIV and AIDS) in the district.
The MoU agreement is for 3 years during which the ECS will be the agency through which MDMS is implemented on PPP mode. Some of the responsibilities of ECS pointed out in the MoU are the formation of Mid day meal committee comprising of Church, SHG Federation, VEC, mothers, parents forum and the ECS members in the village level, to assist DEO and SDEOs for formulation of the District Annual plan, conduct trainings, capacity building for stakeholders and beneficiaries.
Rev. Dr. Chingmak Chang also informed that a representative from the tribal bodies would act as MIS (Management Information System) who will report to the DEOs & SDEOs. FP Solo and Rev. Dr. Chingmak Chang signed the memorandum.
Nagaland improving performance in Math subject
During a press conference after the signing of the MoU, the DoSE was asked on how to ensure quality of food in MDM. Solo said for testing the quality of food grains, samples are collected and monitored. “If there are such complaints it should be brought to our office,” he added.
On the question of delay of payment of cooking costs and honorariums to cooks, Solo admitted that in many schools, cooks were not properly appointed, and due to low budget for cooking cost, mid day meals are not provided regularly.
“In the past there was delay in the release of funds from the Ministry, from finance department, and from planning department, the reason why we were not able to pay regularly. However, in the State Level Steering Committee meeting, we have decided that we will not give arrears to the cooks but build a corpus fund so that they are paid regularly,” Solo informed.
Solo was also vocal that in the past, many school enrolments “were inflated” just to avail schemes such a MDM, free textbooks. However, after coordinators were sensitized to be more accurate, truthful in the collection of data, last year the number fell by more than 40,000, Solo revealed adding, "Because of inaccurate data, we have been facing embarrassing situation."
Solo also mentioned that, as per the National Achievement survey, the performance of Nagaland during 2016 has been termed as “good.” Last year, the performance of students in Nagaland in Math was below average, but in 2016 performance in Math and language are above average, he stated.
The Commissioner and Secretary also encouraged the schools to send complaints to the department if it does not receive the required entitlements in MDM.
