Khichuri (hotchpotch) has been excluded from school meal proposal in a meeting of the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Tuesday.
“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked to find an alternative to the feeding programme as study of the students will be hampered while serving khichuri in schools,” Planning Minister Abdul Mannan told reporters after the meeting.
He also said, “The Premier also asked us to choose biscuits or milk. The primary and mass-education ministry has been asked to find different meal systems.”
As per a decision taken last year, some 1,000 government officials were supposed to go abroad to enhance their expertise and get training on ‘Khichuri’ cooking and distribution. Therefore, a foreign trip was organised for the officials to learn how schools in different countries buy ingredients from markets, cook khichuri and distribute those among children in the schools, according to sources at the Department of Primary Education (DPE) and the Planning Commission. Later, it was widely criticized.
The project was brought up for final approval in the ECNEC meeting on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister proposed to provide non-cooked meal or snacks rather than cooked meal to students. It was informed that the format of the project should be changed in a way that the meal chart would include milk, eggs and biscuits for different days.
Earlier, the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education undertook this ‘Primary School Meal’ project worth Tk 17,290 crore to provide nutritious food to primary school students.
Officials concerned said the project was targeted to be implemented in 492 upazilas and 21 Shikkha Thana in 64 districts of 8 divisions of the country. The project was undertaken to contribute to the education, nutrition, health and social security of all primary school going students by 2030 under the School Meal program in phases.
