BSS, Dhaka :
In Bamna upazila of Barguna district, school meals have made a significant contribution to reducing the dropout rate of students encouraging them to stay in schools.
Suman Hossain, son of Altaf Hossain of Chhoto Bhai Jora village under Doawatola union in Bamna upazila, was eating school meal at noon. “I enjoy a lot when I eat hotchpotch (Khichuri) mixed with different varieties of vegetable… It is delicious and I come to school everyday for having hotchpotch,” he said. This is how many children of poor family of Chhoto Bhai Jora village narrated their enjoyment of having mid-day meal at school.
Laki Akhtar, wife of Md Sohel of Chhoto Bhai Jora village, said, “Due to financial hardship, we cannot provide adequate amount of foods to our children. I am mother of two children. My child named Sohel is student of class three and he does not want to miss his class because of the mid-day school meal.”
“Really school meal is helping us a lot… I am happy because my child is having nutritious foods as it is cooked with fresh vegetables,” she added.
Sherina Akther, assistant director of Shushilan, one of the implementation organizations of School Feeding Programme in Bamna upazila, said school feeding programme has made a significant contribution to reduce drop-out rate in Bamna upazila.
“If we compare other upazilas of Barguna district, where school meal programme is not introduced, student drop-out in these upazilas is higher than Bamna upazila,” she added.
Student drop-out rate in Bamna upazila at primary level school is only 1.02 percent while an average drop-out rate in other upazilas is 7.8 percent, Sherina Akther added.
World Food Programme (WFP) funded school feeding programme has supplemented the efforts of the government to cut student drop-out rate, she said, adding the WFP and local NGO Shushilan are implementing a project under which children of relatively poverty-stricken Bamna upazila are getting meals in their classes.
Because of poverty, many guardians in rural Bangladesh cannot arrange a moderate food for their children, KM Enamul Hoque, deputy director of Campaign for Popular Education, said adding it becomes difficult for kids with empty and half-empty stomachs to pay attention in class and eventually they lose interest in school.
In 2013, the school feeding programme was introduced in Bamna upazila of Barguna district and in Islampur upazila of Jamalpur district while it was introduced in Lama upazila in Barguna district in 2018. These two upazilas were selected as pilot project keeping in mind the poverty in the areas.
The goals of the project were to increase school enrolment and attendance, reduce repetition and dropout rates and improve attention and learning capacity of students by reducing hunger.
In Bamna upazila of Barguna district, school meals have made a significant contribution to reducing the dropout rate of students encouraging them to stay in schools.
Suman Hossain, son of Altaf Hossain of Chhoto Bhai Jora village under Doawatola union in Bamna upazila, was eating school meal at noon. “I enjoy a lot when I eat hotchpotch (Khichuri) mixed with different varieties of vegetable… It is delicious and I come to school everyday for having hotchpotch,” he said. This is how many children of poor family of Chhoto Bhai Jora village narrated their enjoyment of having mid-day meal at school.
Laki Akhtar, wife of Md Sohel of Chhoto Bhai Jora village, said, “Due to financial hardship, we cannot provide adequate amount of foods to our children. I am mother of two children. My child named Sohel is student of class three and he does not want to miss his class because of the mid-day school meal.”
“Really school meal is helping us a lot… I am happy because my child is having nutritious foods as it is cooked with fresh vegetables,” she added.
Sherina Akther, assistant director of Shushilan, one of the implementation organizations of School Feeding Programme in Bamna upazila, said school feeding programme has made a significant contribution to reduce drop-out rate in Bamna upazila.
“If we compare other upazilas of Barguna district, where school meal programme is not introduced, student drop-out in these upazilas is higher than Bamna upazila,” she added.
Student drop-out rate in Bamna upazila at primary level school is only 1.02 percent while an average drop-out rate in other upazilas is 7.8 percent, Sherina Akther added.
World Food Programme (WFP) funded school feeding programme has supplemented the efforts of the government to cut student drop-out rate, she said, adding the WFP and local NGO Shushilan are implementing a project under which children of relatively poverty-stricken Bamna upazila are getting meals in their classes.
Because of poverty, many guardians in rural Bangladesh cannot arrange a moderate food for their children, KM Enamul Hoque, deputy director of Campaign for Popular Education, said adding it becomes difficult for kids with empty and half-empty stomachs to pay attention in class and eventually they lose interest in school.
In 2013, the school feeding programme was introduced in Bamna upazila of Barguna district and in Islampur upazila of Jamalpur district while it was introduced in Lama upazila in Barguna district in 2018. These two upazilas were selected as pilot project keeping in mind the poverty in the areas.
The goals of the project were to increase school enrolment and attendance, reduce repetition and dropout rates and improve attention and learning capacity of students by reducing hunger.
