As the state remains shut for one week, the Karnataka government has planned to deliver daily essentials to the homes of children studying in anganwadis across the state.
Over 35 lakh students dependent on anganwadi centres in the state are expected to benefit from this intiative. The Anganwadi workers will analyse the estimate quantity of food consumed by the children and deliver the same to the beneficiaries at their doorstep.
The motive of this initiative is to ensure that children consume nutritious food even when the Anganwadi centres are shut.
‘It is our responsibility to ensure that children get nutritious food in time. As the Anganwadi centres are closed until further borders, we have taken a decision to home deliver materials,’ Minister for Women and Child Welfare Shashikala Jolle told the media.
The initiative first started by Kerala when the state government decided to deliver groceries to the COVID-19 patients and their families. People hailed the efforts to help anganwadi children and patients who are in home isolation in the battle against the novel Coronavirus.
‘As a precautionary measure to avoid the spread of COVID-19, the state government had asked anganwadis in Bengaluru Urban and Rural to be shut between March 10 and March 17. This government decided on March 13 that anganwadis across the state would be shut for the next one week. In view of this, the state government will home deliver groceries to every beneficiary of the mid-day meal scheme at anganwadis,’ the Department of Women and Child Development stated in a notification issued on Friday.
The department has clarified that delivering cooked food would be inconvenient, hence, only raw materials would be delivered.
As of now, nearly 1,05,292 passengers have been screened in Karnataka.
The state government, on March 13, had announced that all malls, theatres, pubs across Karnataka will be shut for atleast a week to prevent spread of COVID-19. Marriages, conferences and large social gatherings have also been called off for the next one week. Offices have been advised to allow their employees to work from home.
Anganwadis and schools were declared shut on Thursday itself.
After the Anganwadis decided to deliver groceries to the doorsteps, several people have also requested the Department of Primary and Secondary education to come up with a similar initiative for school-going kids to help lakhs of students from poor economic background and also tackle the lack of mid-day meals.
