Goemkarponn Desk
PANAJI: Goa State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (GSPCR) has served a notice to Directorate of Education (DoE), after taking suo moto cognisance of the media report on presence of worms in mid-day meals served the children at schools across Ponda taluka.
The Commission called for an inquiry into the incident and for necessary action against those responsible as per the law. It has further called the DoE to file a status report of all monitoring mechanisms at various levels in place to prevent further such incidents.
“This is outrageous and sheer negligence. It is also shocking to note that the food was already consumed by children, despite monitoring mechanisms in place. The Midday Meal Scheme (MDM) has an elaborate monitoring mechanism at State, district as well as local level to ensure quality food is served to children,” said GSPCR CP Peter F Borges
“In particular, the School Management Committees (SMCs) has the responsibility to monitor the regularity and wholesomeness of the mid-day meal served to children, cleanliness in cooking and serving of the meal, timeliness in procurement of good quality ingredients, on a daily basis,” he said.
Borges said that this incident shows “complete carelessness” on the part of all those who are part of the monitoring mechanisms across all levels and demands serious action.
“The Commission called enquiry into the incident and for necessary action against those responsible as per the law. It has further called the Directorate of Education to file status of all monitoring mechanisms at various levels in place to prevent further such incidents,” Borges further said.
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