KV and NV students to travel to Attari and Akhnoor border

Groups of students from Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas will travel to Attari and Akhnoor border under the 'Seema Darshan' programme of the government.
Officials said that the two groups of 30 students each would travel from January 22 to 26, to Attari and Akhnoor and present cultural performances for the soldiers guarding the borders.
An official said that an announcement in this regard was made last year, on November 14 by Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani while inaugurating the National Children Assembly at Bal Bhawan here.
(REOPEN MDS6)
L Pushpalatha, principal of a government upper primary school in Vithura, 37 km from here, where the largest number of children are fed under the mid-day meals scheme in the district, said the recent hike of the fund to Rs eight per child would not make "much of a difference".

"Big schools will manage the crisis in one way or other. PTA may also help during crisis. But the teachers, especially principals, of small schools are always the losers," she said.

"There is no provision even to get back the amount which they spend from their own pockets for the scheme."
"As no teacher can think of denying meals for their students, they do not mind spending from their own pocket," she said.
Pushpalatha said she herself had to spend from her salary for more than a year when she served as the principal of a rural school some time back.

She, however, said as her present school was a big one the situation is better.
"In Vithura UPS, we spend around Rs 1.5 lakh every month for the mid-day meals and manage somehow. But the situation may not be the same always as market fluctuates and prices of essential commodities vary every day," she said.
P H Nazeer, teacher in-charge of the mid-day meals scheme in Vithura school, said the protein-rich meals, weekly egg and milk are a big attraction for the schools' children as a majority of them are from poor backgrounds.
"This month, prices of vegetables are lower. But during months when these prices go up, we will face fund crunch," he said.

(REOPEN MES3)
Meanwhile, state Director of Public Instructions M S Jaya said the government has increased the fund from Rs five to Rs eight per child considering the "plight" of the teachers.
She claimed that no other state is giving funds for the mid-day meal scheme like Kerala.
"Rice is given to the schools free of cost and they need to buy vegetables, firewood, milk and eggs only. The schools can manage to meet these requirements using the present amount," Jaya said.
The Director, however, admitted that if the amount is raised to Rs 10 per child, things would become smoother for schools.

Many schools were finding out their own means like cultivating vegetables to overcome the fund crunch, she added.