The Kerala High Court on Monday sought the response of the State government to a plea for a directive to immediately pay the headmasters of the schools the money they have spent for the noon-meal scheme in their schools.
The court sought the response when a writ petition filed by the Kerala Pradesh Teachers’ Association and headmasters of three schools came up for hearing. According to the petitioners, the fund allocated for the noon-meal scheme was not sufficient to meet even 50% of the actual cost. Even this amount is not released to schools in time. In fact, ₹3.54 a day per student is the maximum amount being reimbursed for the noon-meal scheme. It is impossible to run the scheme with such funding.
The headmasters are therefore forced to take personal loans to provide noon-meals to students, pushing them to financial crisis. The headmasters could not discontinue the scheme due to the possibility of disciplinary proceedings against them. The petitioners submitted that the government had no authority to compel the headmasters to pay the amount from their pockets for the scheme. The government should either stop the scheme or meet the full expenses of the scheme.
The petitioners also sought a directive to the State government to work out the actual cost for the implementation of the scheme and disburse the amount in advance every month.
