Training held for Midday Meal cooks and helpers in Namchi

NAMCHI, 22 Jan: A day-long training on safety, hygiene and quality for cooks-cum-helpers under the Midday Meal Scheme of HRDD under South District was held today here at Namchi Girls Senior Secondary School auditorium hall.
The main objective of the training was to create awareness on maintaining safety, hygiene and quality of food cooked for school children under the Midday Meal Scheme among the cooks-cum-helpers who are the primary people involved in the scheme.
A total of 76 cooks from different schools from Junior High School to Senior Secondary School level of the South District participated in the training. The training was attended by the Joint Director (S), HRDD MK Rai, Deputy Director (S), HRDD DK Rai and AEO (HQ) KK Sharma and Coordinator MDM (HQ) Sonam Paljor Bhutia.
The resource persons for the training were Director, Bharati Ghanashyam, Executive Director, Suresh M, and Trainer-cum-Consultant from the Akshaya Patra Foundation, Ujjwala Jatkar. Other resource persons for the training were Social Worker from District Hospital Namchi, Binita Sharma who spoke on safety and hygiene in the workplace. Fireman KB Gurung and Fireman Chandra Baraily presented a demonstration on fire safety measures.
The programme started with the welcome address by the Deputy Director, DK Rai who highlighted the aims and objectives of the training. The Joint Director in his address emphasized on the role and responsibility of cooks in the Midday Meal Scheme. He stated that a healthy, nutritious meal cooked by them would go a long way in nurturing healthy children who would be mentally and physically agile as a result of the balanced and proper nutrition provided to them. He stressed that the health of the future generation was in the hands of these cooks.
The session was followed by a practical session for the trainees. An open interactive session between the cooks and trainers was also held. The resource persons responded to the queries raised by the trainees. The trainees were handed over cooking kits and certificates at the end of the training.