IIT MADRAS (MONITORING INSTITUTION)

Period of the Report 1st April 2012 – 30th September 2012

District Month of visit to the Districts No of Schools visited in each district Total Schools Visited

Primary Schools Upper Primary Schools Total

MADURAI 18th June 2012 to 04th July 2012 15 25 40

VIRUDHUNAGAR 09th July 2012 to 25th July 2012 25 15 40

SIVAGANGA 21st August 2012 to 06th Sep 2012 24 16 40

PUDUKOTTAI 30th July 2012 to 06th Sep 2012 21 19 40

Total 85 75 160

MDM – Enrolled Vs Availed

District Total Enrollment Attendance on the day of visit

Number availed MDM on the day of visit

Madurai 7806 5364 (68%)* 4574 (85%)**

Virudhunagar 3663 3086 (84%)* 3086 (100%)**

Sivaganga 3610 3131 (86%)* 3019 (96%)**

Pudukottai 4122 3826 (92%)* 3649 (95%)**

19201 15407 (80%)* 14328 (93%)**

Values in brackets indicate:

* Percentage of students present on the day of visit against the total enrollment in school

**Percentage of students availed MDM against the students present in the school on the day of visit

Condition of the Kitchen Working condition is not healthy for the kitchen staff and there is no

proper ventilation Shifting to gas based cooking will improve the situation

Storage of Food grains In 96 schools the food grains are stored in the store room. In 64 schools

it is stored in the class rooms.

Display of Menu Pudukottai: The menu was displayed only in 4 of the Residential Special

Training Centers, KASA Arimalam, RDO Arimalam, Word Thiruvarangulam and PMSSS Pudukottai. However, in RDO Arimalam, the food displayed in the menu was not served to the children. It was mentioned as Bread Omlette for breakfast on Sunday but the children had been served with rice porridge.

Madurai: The menu was displayed only in the 3 schools (PUPS Ammapatti, PUPS Vidathikulam and PUMS Chinthamani)either on the notice board or on the black board. The remaining 37 schools did not have a weekly display of the menu.

In other districts, menu was not displayed anywhere.

The number of cooks and helpers are inadequate to meet the requirements in some of the schools due to vacancies.

The Organisers, Cooks are Helpers in most of the schools belong to BC or MBC community.

SC community cooks and helpers are appointed only in Adi-dravida welfare schools

A Special Case

In MPL Kammapatti Middle School, Srivilliputhur, there was a resistance from the village community against the appointment of a cook who belongs to the SC community (The news was also published in The Hindu dated 6th July 2012). The parents did not want a SC community woman to cook or serve food for their children. Eventually, the cook was transferred and appointed elsewhere.

The buffer stock of 45 days requirement is maintained in 56 schools and 30 days requirement in 102 schools

In Government ADW school Mallal the stock is maintained for 35 days

in PUMS Kadukkakadu (Pudukottai District) there is no stock. The stock was over by 6-8-12 and they had not yet received food grains. The organizer was buying food grains from outside for credit

Variety of Menu The daily menu includes rice, dal, eggs and vegetables. There is no wheat preparation

Quality of Food Except few schools like(PUMS Keelapasalai – Sivaganga, PUPS

Manavalankarai – Pudukottai) the quality of food is satisfactory in ALLschools

Quantity of Food The students were satisfactory with the quantity of food provided in

almost all the schools

Hand wash No prompts from the teachers/organizer were noticed during the field

visit In 75% of the schools, students wash their hands before and after

meal and in the remaining 25% schools the children wash their hands only after the meal.

Madurai: In 4 schools (PUMS Aritapatti, PUPS Mullipallam, ADWPS Anaikulam and Municipality PS Mamsapuram) the students use soap to wash their hands but there is only single soap that is being used by all the students.

Virudhunagar: In 3 schools (PUPS Udayanathapuram, PUPS Sathyanagar and PUPS Notchikulam) the students use soap to wash their hands but there is only single soap that is being used by all the students.

Sivaganga: In 4 schools (PUMS Kanjirangal, PUMS Thuvar, PUPS Vaigaivadakarai and PUMS Kannankudi) the students use soap to wash their hands but there is only single soap that is being used by all the students.

Pudukottai: In 6 schools (PUPS Narikuravar colony, PUPS Kannangaragudi, PUES Pisanathur, PUPS Soorakadu, PUMS Kadakkukadu and PUPS Keelapatti) the students use soap to wash their hands but there is only single soap that is being used by all the students.

Adequacy of Utensils 116 schools (72%) have reported that the utensils used

for cooking are inadequate In PUPS Muthupatti (Sivaganga District), the organizer

had spent his personal money for the purchase of utensils.

Availability of Water 97 Schools (60%) have access to Panchayat or

Municipality water. The remaining schools have their own hand pump or bore well inside the school campus

In few schools, sponsors have provided RO plants and water purifiers for water purification

Community Participation There is lack of community participation to contribute towards

the betterment for the implementation of MDM scheme

Periodic Health checkups The Health Check Up happens once in a year in 72 schools and

in 88 schools the health check up happens once in 6 months. The health card is maintained only in 60 schools and the

remaining 100 schools do not maintain the health card properly

Audit and Inspection There was no state level audit or inspection carried out to

monitor the MDM implementation in majority of the schools

Ensuring consistent supply of good quality grains, pulses, vegetables and fruits

Impressing upon the local community the importance of MDM as an effective tool to counter caste, class and gender based discrimination

Fostering larger community involvement in order to realize the above