‘Not serving eggs at school won’t impact children’s dietary habit’: Bengal Education Minister Dipak Barman on mid-day meal row

Amid the controversy over mid-day meals in Bengal, especially over the ommission of eggs from the menu, a key non-vegetarian food item having both nutritional as well as emotianal connect in the eastern state, Education Minister Dipak Barman said in an exclusive interview with The Statesman that this proposed step will not impact childrens’ dietary habit.

“I do not believe eggs are the only source of protein,” he mentioned, explaining that children used to get only egg on a fixed day in a week, which sums up to only 35 eggs annually, something which he considers not enough to change anyone’s dietary habits.

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“By rough calculation, students used to get eggs for about 35 to 40 weeks in a year, because schools remain open for around 35 to 40 weeks. They get one egg on a fixed day each week, which is roughly 35 eggs a year,” the state Education Minister said.

Barman further reasoned that the eating habits of children at home form the basis of their dietary practices, asserting that the meals served at school play little impact in their daily nutritional intake.

“Children eat three or four meals a day. Their eating habits at home constitute the main source of their nutrition. The food served in school is not their primary source of nutrition,” Barman told The Statesman.

Explaining his point by sharing his personal experience from his school days, he said, “When we were students, we didn’t eat anything at school. However, we never developed the habit of not eating.”

The Minister however welcomed open criticism on this issue, saying that those who have expertise on nutritional science should discuss this.

“If people want to debate this, they can. I do not want to get into that. Nutritionists and those who have studied nutritional science should discuss it,” Barman said.

However, Barman reasoned that his focus is not into those ‘philosophical debates’ but on the larger good, through a personal experience.

“Once we were arguing over which preposition was correct in a sentence. One group insisted it should be ‘off’, another said ‘in’. My teacher jokingly said – whether the bell fell with a loud noise or the bell fell and then made a noise after falling – let philosophers debate on that. You use whichever preposition you think is right, off or in. This isn’t the time for you to worry about such minor issues. Think about them when you’re older,” he shared.

The Minister laid it bare that his first priority is to “bring students and teachers under the same umbrella.”

Commenting on recent incidents of egg pelting, which has now emerged as a common form of protest against Trinamool Congress leaders and party workers, he said, “Ordinary people have chosen eggs as a way to express their anger. We do not support that at all.”

In a vieled attack at the TMC, he however mentioned, “it is better than sticks, bombs or bullets.”