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Efforts are being made to ensure that school students get healthy and safe food. Junk food is sold from canteens of various schools. After coming up many times, ‘Let’s have nutritious food’ initiative was started. The Collector recently held a meeting of the Education Department and the Food and Drug Administration and gave the instructions. A month has passed since the directive was issued, but the implementation is still confused. The response of schools from the district in the ‘Let’s do nutritious food’ initiative is low. Official sources in the education department said that implementation is being carried out as per the Food Safety and Honors Act. In this, activities like healthy diet, food wastage, food safety along with health and wellness ambassador will be implemented in schools. Many schools have kitchen sheds. But it is said that registration, license process has not been done. It was said that there is no instruction letter to the schools in this regard. Officials of the education department said that there will be a separate process for that. Possession and sale of junk food is prohibited; Also, according to the rules, food is distributed and distributed to the students in the educational institutions in the school through cafeterias and canteens. Such institutions are required to be registered and licensed. Official sources said that the schools will be informed about the process by sending a letter. It is also said that such restaurants and eateries will be inspected by the Food and Drug Department. It is said that the kitchen shed of school nutrition in Aurangabad division will also be inspected under this. There is also confusion among the principals due to the lack of clarity regarding the norms and regulations.
Process of responsibility determination
It was revealed that there is no certainty as to who should be given the responsibility of implementation at the secondary and primary education officer office level. Sources in the office of the Secondary Education Officer said that this responsibility rests with the Primary Department, while others said that the School Nutrition Scheme Officer would have the responsibility. Official sources also said that no letters have been issued to the schools regarding the registration process. Due to this, confusion in implementation has also come to the fore.
Number of schools in the district
Subsidized 878
Unaided 394
Self-help 822
Department of Social Welfare 80
Government 5
Tribal Division 13
Zilla Parishad 2073
..
Number of students: 9 lakh 59 thousand
.
Schools under School Nutrition Scheme: 3,100
Number of schools with kitchen shed : 2,300
Schools attached to Central Kitchen Shed : 460
Most of the schools in the city are attached to the central kitchen. So there is no question of junk food. Schools also frequently issue instructions not to bring such food to students. Schools of various mediums, whether in rural areas or urban areas, are urged to comply with the new instructions from the Education Department. Headmasters, principals were given instructions in this regard by the department. Schools will then take more precautions.
– Awad Chaus, Principals Association
.
We are going to create awareness in schools about what kind of food should be provided by schools. Some schools in the city have taken canteen license. Regarding other schools in the district, we have recently sent a letter to the Education Officer informing them about registration. Along with this, we also insist on various instructions where fresh food is prepared. The inspection process will also proceed.
Ajit Maitre,
Assistant Commissioner of Food, Food and Drug Administration Department
