Korba 29 November (HIST). It was only a few days ago that many Pahadi Korva students studying in Kadamjheria, Korai, a primary school run in the settlement of the special backward tribe Pahadi Korwa, did not feel like coming to school in the morning. Be it Samleshwar who was studying in class 1 or Bamleshwar who was studying in class 3, both the brothers used to beat us at home on various pretexts before going to school and did not even show interest in going to school. A similar story was told by Pahari Korwa students Jyoti and Sumitra. Before going to school in the morning, he used to get food at home, but even after getting pulses and rice in his plate and eating it, many times he would not go to school on some pretext or the other. Now that as soon as the schools open, the students have started getting local breakfast of their choice like Poha, Upma, Bhajiya, Puri, Kheer etc. in the form of hot breakfast, the attendance of students has started increasing in the schools of remote rural areas including the slum areas of the city. . Children have started liking hot breakfast in the morning and they have started associating breakfast with studies.
Under the guidance of Chief Minister Vishnudev Sai, the district administration has started providing hot breakfast from DMF to the students of class 1 to class 8 of Korba district with the opening of the school. There is a clear interest of students in schools located in tribal dominated areas including schools in slum areas of the city to eat breakfast provided in addition to the mid-day meal. About three months ago, on August 14, the process of serving hot breakfast in the plates of students was started in the schools of urban areas of Korba block including Podi Upora development block of Korba district. Seeing the positive impact of serving breakfast for about two and a half months, Collector Ajit Vasant gave instructions to start it in all the development blocks of the district. Finally, as soon as the schools open after the Diwali holidays, breakfast has been started in the remaining schools of Korba Rural, Pali, Kartala, Katghora.
Reena of class 1, Purnima of class 5, studying in Government Primary School Karmipara under Podiuparoda block, about 100 km away from the city, Yashoda of class 5, Anesh of primary school Junapara Moraga, everyone now likes to come to school and eat breakfast. . Karmipara’s teacher Sumitra Marco says that there are 37 children enrolled in the school and earlier many students did not come to school citing some work, but now it is not so. Most of the students come to school after getting breakfast in the morning.
Children are reaching school on time due to availability of breakfast in school
The women of Santoshi Self-Help Group, who prepare breakfast in the school of village Junapara Moraga, say that breakfast is served between 9.30 am and 10 am. Kheer, Puri, Halwa, Khichdi, Poha, Bhajiya are served in breakfast. Students are very eager to eat breakfast and reach school on time. Here, breakfast has also had an impact on the Pahari Korwa children living under Korba development block. Children, who set out for the forest with their family members early in the morning, reach the school threshold well in time with their bags, eagerly waiting for the school to open. Bamleshwar and Samleshwar, residents of village Korai, a hilly Korwa settlement, were seen going to school with bags from their home. He told that every day in the school, breakfast of hot bhajiya, poha, kheer, puri, upma is available and he also enjoys eating it. Their mother Niharobaai says that since they are getting breakfast, both her sons do not make any excuse to go to school in the morning. Go straight to school with your bag.
M.sha, Rajkumari, Laxmi, Samarin Bai, Wednesday Sai, studying in the school of Korai, and Pahari Korva Jyoti, Rajesh, Jitesh, Sumitra and other students of the primary school run in village Kadamjheria have also been affected by the breakfast. Teachers here also say that due to being given breakfast, students are showing interest in coming to school. The special thing is that the Collector has given instructions to write the breakfast menu in all the schools and serve breakfast as per the local availability and choice of the students. For this, he has approved an amount of Rs 8 crore every year in the district from DMF. District Education Officer TP Upadhyay said that more than 1 lakh 20 thousand students of Korba district are benefiting from this initiative.
