The school administration then came up with a lunch distribution program to lure the children back to class.[break]
“Now, the children rarely miss classes,” says Prem Basnet, principal of the school, adding that the nursery class is running in full swing and the children´s studies have improved.
The campaign has encouraged children to stay in school from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. regularly, unlike in the past. Once the children no longer needed to go home for lunch, their studies have improved, says Bishnu Maya Khatri, a teacher at the school.
From March 12, 2012, Nabin Audhyogik Kedar Bahadur Rita Higher Secondary School has been managing lunch for the nursery level kids. As many as 75 of them are currently enrolled in nursery class.
The school administration says that nursery class children have even been bringing their siblings to school after it started providing lunch.
The school has worked out a schedule for lunch distribution. Food items vary each day.
The school is located near a settlement of backward and minority communities including squatters, and the majority of the children are from the settlement.
Jib Raj Panta, a teacher, admits, “Many students are compelled to go back home at tiffin time as they come to school on empty stomachs. They don´t get any breakfast as their parents set out from home early in the morning."
Even though the nursery children have stopped going home for lunch, a problem still persists with higher grade students, says Panta, “Many students do not appear in the school again after tiffin time.”
According to Kedar Bahadur Rayamajhi, chairman of the school management committee, the school has been spending Rs.15,000 per month for providing lunch to the toddlers. “We are managing the expenses from the internal resources of the school.”
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