Manish Kumar
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Feb 21: Nearly 50 days after its inception, the helpline launched by the government to register complaints about the midday meal scheme is yet to evoke response from the public.
The state government, which had launched the helpline (18003456722) January 1 had also started a system under which people could log on to www.studenthelplineodisha.nic.in to lodge a complaint. However, there has been no taker for this.
“Not a single complaint has been registered using the system. The response has not been very encouraging. Many people have failed to understand how to lodge complaints relating to MDM through the system,” said state nodal officer (MDM) Gangadhar Sahoo.
Sahoo had written to all district education officers (DEO) January 22 regarding the online helpline. Copies of the letter were also sent to all district project coordinators of RTE and SSA.
Experts of the city are also upset over the lack of response.
“It is unfortunate. There are various reasons for the failure. The helpline numbers that are written at local rural schools are basically in English, which is often tough for many people to understand. As such, it becomes difficult to lodge complaints,” said Pradip Pradhan, convener of the Right to Food Campaign.
Experts also expressed displeasure that the scheme was not managed properly by the state government. “There are several problems with the programme. The state government had issued circulars for formation of a monitoring committee at district and block levels. However, RTI replies have revealed that such panels have not been formed in many districts. This is only allowing people to indulge in corruption,” said Pradipta Nayak, convener of Child Rights Watch.
“Many teachers have been entrusted with the job of facilitating and monitoring day-to-day activities related to the midday meal scheme. If teachers are involved in managing the midday meal, how can they give adequate time to teaching? The government needs to understand the problem,” said Saikh Abdul Khali, secretary of the Orissa Primary Education Teachers’ Association.