Primary-school midday meal programme to resume in Oct

Primary and Mass Education Adviser Prof Dr Bidhan Ranjan Roy Poddar on Sunday announced resumption of mid-day feeding programme.

The government will resume the midday meal programme at government primary schools in 150 upazilas in early October, said Primary and Mass Education Adviser Prof Dr Bidhan Ranjan Roy Poddar on Sunday.

“The midday meal initiative will move forward. It will resume soon in 150 upazilas,” he told a press conference at the Secretariat, marking International Literacy Day.

Earlier, the government had announced the introduction of midday meals in 150 upazilas by January.

When asked about the delay, the adviser explained, “We prepared the DPP (Development Project Proposal) based on previous BBS data. After placing it at ECNEC, new statistics from BBS were released, which changed poverty classifications in several regions. As a result, we had to revise and resubmit the proposal, which caused some delay.”

Procurement and training are already underway, Prof Poddar said expressing the hope that the programme will begin by late September or early October.

According to the adviser, the meals will include five items, such as eggs, seasonal fruits, biscuits and milk.

On the issue of weekly holidays in primary schools, Prof Poddar said they will remain unchanged, but other school breaks will be reduced to increase classroom time.

He stressed that improving literacy at the primary level is a core objective of the ministry.

“To ensure learning at schools, we need to focus on ‘contact hours’ – the amount of time teachers spend with students. This depends on how many days schools remain open. Currently, schools operate around 180 days out of 365, which is far too low,” he said.

“There are many unnecessary holidays. We’re working jointly with the Ministry of Education to rationalise the academic calendar. This must be a coordinated effort,” he added.

When asked whether the weekly holiday would be reduced from two days to one, the adviser said, “For now, our goal is to reduce other breaks in the calendar. Reducing weekly holidays would affect all educational institutions equally, so it’s not feasible to apply that only to primary schools. There are also demands from teachers, who are currently in a vacation-based system. Changing that would involve financial implications for the government.” - UNB