Bajura, November 6

The students of Kailash Primary School at Pandesen of Budhinanda Municipality in Bajura have been deprived of nutritional supplements provided under the government programme titled ‘Food Programme for Education’.

It’s been two weeks since the students received any nutritional supplement. They are required to carry firewood to the school to avail the supplement.

According to school Principal Ganesh Bahadur Singh, lack of firewood had affected the supplement distribution. “The food needs to be prepared with fire,” he said, adding, “We were distributing it earlier, but have been unable to do so without firewood to prepare the food.”

“Guardians were responsible for supplying firewood to the school, but after they stopped supplying firewood, students were asked to bring it,” said teacher Kalpana Bohora.

The Food Programme for Education has been running in 215 schools and child development centres in Bajura.

According to District Education Officer Bajura school inspector Dharmaraj Jaishi, the programme was implemented to increase kids’ access to school, boost enrolment rate and minimise the drop-out rate. “In fact, it’s the guardians who have to supply the firewood, not the students,” he said, adding he would look into why Kailash school was not providing nutritional supplement.

Food for Education Programme Bajura Coordinator Bijaya Kumar Thakur rued the children’s plight of having to carry firewood. “This will give negative impression to the child, so the concerned authorities must be serious about this,” he said.

Around 21,000 students are said to have benefited from the programme in the district this year.