Not job of primary head teachers to provide mid-day meals: Pannian

It is not the job of school head teachers to provide mid-day meals in schools. Their work is to coordinate academic and extra curricular activities and lead development of schools, CPI leader Pannian Ravindran has said.

He was speaking after inaugurating a Secretariat protest organised by the Kerala Government Primary School Headmasters Association to raise various demands here recently.

Mr. Ravindran said it was the government’s job to provide mid-day meals. It was not a scheme to be run using money from head teachers. This issue would be brought to the attention of the Minister for General Education. Using employees’ money to meet expenses in their workplace should not be the policy of the Left Democratic Front government, he said.

The protest was held to raise demands including immediate sanction of mid-day meal arrears, hand over the responsibility for mid-day meals from head teachers to other agencies, end temporary promotions to the post of head teachers, and sanction 10% quota to primary head teachers for inter-district transfer.

Association State president Biju Thomas spoke.