SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, June 9: The Jharkhand School Education and Literacy department is preparing to organise a cooking competition among more than 79,000 cooks in the state that prepare the mid-day meals in the schools here, as per sources.
A competition will be organised by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Jharkhand at block, district and state levels.
Notably, the objective of the competition is to motivate the cooks to make mid-day meals nutritious as well as appealing. The basic aim of the education department is to develop the spirit of competition among the cooks to prepare appealing meals. As per official reports, a total of 56,101 female cooks are employed in primary schools while another 23,185 are in upper primary schools.
Sources have said that the first cooking competition will be organised at the block level. Under this, the best performing female cook will take part in the district level competition. The successful participant at this level will participate in the state-level cooking competition.
Sources have also claimed that the Central Government has approved a budget of Rs 677.88 crore for the current financial year under the PM Nutrition Scheme. Under this, the central government will bear Rs 427.56 crore, while the state government will bear Rs 250.32 crore.
The state government had sought permission from the central government to utilize the amount received under the PM nutrition scheme for the management, monitoring, and evaluation of the cooking competition. The Center has permitted in this regard.
