Mizoram Teachers Demand Action Over Midday Meal Crisis

Two Mizoram teacher associations warn that they will halt mid-day meal services due to lack of funds. Teachers claim cooks haven't been paid in months. Despite talks with officials and a partial government response, the issue remains unresolved, prompting a deadline for action.

In Mizoram, two major school teacher associations have issued a warning that mid-day meals for students may be halted soon as state funding shortfalls continue to plague the program. The Mizoram Primary School Teachers' Association (MPSTA) and the Mizoram Middle School Teachers' Association (MMSTA) highlighted the pressing issue in a joint letter to the school education department.

The associations have indicated that come October 18, they will no longer be able to sustain the mid-day meal operations, citing the inability to pay cooks due to defaulted payments over the past four months. The government's struggle to release funds has been attributed to delays by the Centre in disbursing the first instalment for the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) program.

Despite discussions with Education Minister Dr. Vanlalthlana and school department officials, the impasse persists. As a temporary relief, the government had increased the honorarium for cooks to Rs 3,000 for the ensuing academic year, but the arrears for the initial months were only cleared amid threats from teacher associations to suspend meal services at the start of October.

(With inputs from agencies.)