Nagpur: The State Education Department has asked his district level officials to create awareness about the enriched rice used in the night night scheme (MDM), because some parents are confused by “Pezina”.
In some parts of Maharashtra, parents have complained ‘plastic rice is inserted with ordinary MDM rice even though the sample is tested negative later.
Officials say confusion is being created because rice is enriched sometimes leaked yellow after being soaked and can even begin to float in water because it is lighter.
Every one kg of rice given as part of the MDM consists of 10 grams of enriched rice and introduced for the first time this financial year itself.
“Because this is new, many parents become afraid and report it as PEZIN.
We need to make parents aware of the facts and ensure that their children are not seized from MDM,” said an educational official.
In the post-covid era, the cooked MDM scheme has stopped and students are supplied by raw and dal rice.
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When parents cook this rice at home so they are worried about some kernels that seem to be a little different from the others.
The Director of State Education Dattatrey Jagtap wrote a comprehensive letter to the district education officers who explained ‘Science’ behind enriched rice and how can it sometimes react with water, to create optical confusion about its purity.
In his letter, Jagtap said that a very small number of fortified added to the mixture because the ratio was set at 1: 100.
“This enriched rice contains important nutrients for children.
These include iron, folic acid, vitamin B12, zinc, vitamin A , Vitamin B1, B2, B5, B6, “Jagtap said.
Gautam Gedam, MDM is responsible for the Nagpur district saying, “We have regularly distributed the food grains needed under the MDM scheme.
Parents are called to school on certain days and distribute monthly quota in the form of raw grains.” In each district, several random samples will be collected and tested on the laboratory approved by the government, to eliminate worries of parents.
The MDM scheme is provided free for all students between STD I-VIII registered in a government school or grant.