Swaraj (Kattapana): Mid-day meals progamme in Indian schools went a long way in raising enrollment figures and improving nutrition levels. Breakfasts too could be considered at least in remote and impoverished zones like the one in a tribal area in the hilly Idukki district of Kerala.
Lincy George, a teacher at the Government Tribal Higher Secondary School at Murikattukudi area, near Kattapana, has started a breakfast programme to ensure that no child sits in the classes without having a filling breakfast.
Lincy found out that lots of students reach the school on an empty stomach. She took note of this after first noticing a girl student vomiting water. When she enquired, the girl replied that she didn’t have any breakfast.
The breakfast is provided to the children who come from economically backward families. Almost a month ago, another teacher found a child studying in the primary class eating the idlis that the teacher had brought. She then contacted ‘Snehavalayam’ the alumni association of the school. The school authorities decided to start a breakfast programe with support from this association, PTA and a few good hearted people in the neighbourhood.
The deserving students were found out from the list provided by the class teachers. Now, at 9.30 am, breakfast is provided to more than one hundred students. They plan to include dishes like dosa, appam, upma and kozhukatta in the menu.
Lincy spends more than Rs 10,000, every month, to provide lunch for the students at the school. Besides this, she took the initiative to start the breakfast programme too.