How midday meal reaches as head load' to kids in a remote Krishnagiri giri school

Krishnagiri: Without this dedicated 37-year-old government cook M. Maheshwari, poor children of the remote uphill Kodakarai village can hardly fight malnutrition.

Kodakarai, 15-km from Denkannikottai in Krishnagiri district, has a population of around 2,500 people including 1,330 voters and is located inside the reserved forest with a good number of elephant population too. 

This remote village, which was earlier in the news for all the wrong reasons-the alleged gang rape of a minor speechless and hearing impaired girl, managed to get a road and other small facilities after that incident. 

For its children, the village has one government-run elementary school in Kochavoor and a high school located two-km from the first school. 

These two institutions that cater to the educational needs of poor children till the high school level has shortage of teachers as in other government run schools. 

“ Our schools face shortage of government paidstaffs but the vacant posts were filled with private teachers who get salary from CSR funds of a private company,” says K.Palani, village headman of Kodakarai and nearby hamlets.

However, “our immediate requirement is a kitchen and one woman cook for the Kocahvoor elementary school where 60 boys and girls study”, he said, adding, “the midday meal reaches them from another school at Kodakarai.”

This has been made possible by the untiring work of a generous village cook Maheswari, he confides. She singly cooks food for around 240 children daily including for 60 kids in Kocahvoor school and for another 190 children studying at the high school at Kodakarai. 

“We thank Maheshwari for her tireless work. She not only cooks and also carries the food as head load to Kocahvoor School. Daily she has to walk four-km two-way. If not for her, our poor children will remain hungry in the classroom,” says 55-year-old Palani. 

Hard facts: Where malnutrition stagnates in a remote Tamil nadu village 
Even six years after a survey was conducted to unravel the level of malnutrition in women in children in the remote villages of Kochavoor and Kodakarai, the ground reality seems to be the same. 

The survey, jointly conducted by a local NGO and CRY here in the hill villages coming under Thalli and Kemlamangalam blocks of Krishnagiri district, shows that malnutrition continues to be high despite state interventions. 

A medical team who visited the villages that year to document parameters like height, weight and nutrition aspects, came out with the finding that children in the age group between 0-5 years and 80 per cent of the women are malnourished. There are more number of anemic cases, which may account for 70 per cent of the village population. 

Of the 150 cases including 20 pregnant mothers screened by the experts, it was found that the hemoglobin level of school children was just eight per cent against the normal level of 13 per cent. 

The lack of a sustained balanced diet and rampant child marriages cases were found to be the reasons for the endemic malnutrition in such remote villages of Krishnagiri district. 

A field worker on condition of anonymity said, “this study was conducted six years ago. The findings were sent to the Government, but the situation remains the same as before. Now if another study is done, don't be surprised if the condition has worsened.”