PANAJI
Days after floating a tender seeking 'expression of interest' from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations (CSOs) which could elbow out the self-help groups (SHGs) currently operating the mid-day meal scheme in schools across Goa, the Directorate of Education (DoE) has climbed down clarifying it is limited to just 5,000 beneficiary students from Canacona alone.
The tender document however makes no such specification limiting the scope.
According to Education Director Shailesh Zingde, the SHGs had difficulties supplying meals to these 5,000 students in schools of Canacona taluka, which was the reason why the department floated the tender.
Zingde has also claimed that for rest of the over 1.5 lakh beneficiary students across Goa, the existing 98 SHGs and eight Parent Teacher Associations, will continue to shoulder the responsibility of supplying the mid-day meals.
The SHGs will not be replaced with NGOs, Zingde said, but also added that the department may expand the operations via bidders who win the tenders based on the experience of the service they provide.
Zingde said, bids in response to the tender have already been received from Goa itself and also from Karnataka, Gaziabad and Mumbai.
The DoE also reiterated that the pending bills worth over Rs 13 crore owed to the SHGs will be cleared in a week or two.
Friday's clarification from the DoE does little to clear the veil of uncertainty over the implementation of the scheme in schools which have just commenced the new academic year.
It may be recalled that the State government had floated a tender seeking 'expression of interest' from NGOs and CSOs to supply hot cooked meals in schools.
The move had come as a surprise to 98 self-help groups and eight Parent-Teacher Associations who have been facing prolonged payment delays.
In the tender, the department had emphasized that institutions must be committed to undertake supply of mid-day meal responsibility on a no-profit basis and abide completely by the parameters of NP-NSPE 2006 along with subsequent changes from time to time.
The DoE had also mentioned that it reserves the right to change the menu at any time while stating that the rice and wheat-based menu is to be supplied six days a week.
