In the remote char areas of Lalmonirhat where poverty, river erosion and long distances often make regular schooling difficult for children, a free school-feeding programme is drawing students back to classrooms and helping them stay attentive through the school day.

Teachers, students and guardians in the district’s Patgram and Kaliganj upazilas said the programme has made a visible difference in school attendance, children’s interest in learning and their ability to remain in classrooms for longer periods.

They are now calling for the pilot initiative to be expanded to primary schools across the country, particularly in disadvantaged and hard-to-reach areas.

The programme was introduced in 310 primary schools in the two upazilas on December 28 last year.

Under it, children from pre-primary to Class V receive free food during the school break.

The menu includes fortified buns, eggs, bananas and 200-millilitre packets of milk.

Buns are supplied every school day, while milk and bananas are served on alternate days and boiled eggs are provided on the remaining three days of the week.

According to the Lalmonirhat District Primary Education Office, 22,829 children in Patgram and 19,850 in Kaliganj upazila are receiving the meals every day.

For children living in the chars, the significance of the programme goes beyond simply providing a snack.

Many of them leave home in the morning after having a limited meal and remain at school until the afternoon.

In several schools, students have to travel considerable distances, sometimes crossing rivers or using boats, to attend classes.

At Votmari Government Primary School in Kaliganj, many students come from char areas across the Teesta.

Headteacher Asaduzzaman Dulu said students previously became tired and inattentive after midday because they had little or no food during the long school day.

“Most of our students come from the char areas across the Teesta. They used to become weak and inattentive after noon because they had to stay at school for a long time without food,” he said.

“Now that they receive nutritious food, their attendance has increased significantly. We are currently seeing attendance of around 95 to 97 percent, and at times we are struggling to accommodate all the students in the classrooms,” he added.

Heshne Hasin Kingbodonti and Taslima Yasmin Humaira, students of Modonpur Bairati Government Primary School, said staying at school from morning until afternoon was difficult when they were hungry.

“Now we get nutritious food from the government, which gives us the strength to stay in class and concentrate on our lessons. The food is also of good quality,” they said.

For parents such as Azizar Rahman and Manjum Ali, the programme is particularly important because they cannot afford to provide money or a separate tiffin for their children every day.

“We are poor people. We cannot give our children food or money for tiffin every day. What they eat at home in the morning is often not enough for them to stay at school throughout the day,” they said, urging the authorities to continue the programme nationwide.

From attendance to nutrition

The impact is also being reflected in attendance figures.

Lalmonirhat Assistant District Primary Education Officer Ahsan Habib said attendance in schools in the two upazilas was around 70 percent but has risen to around 90-95 percent after the introduction of school feeding.

“Attendance has increased along with children’s nutrition and interest in learning. The programme has created considerable enthusiasm in the schools, particularly in the char areas,” he said.

He said the pilot should be expanded across the country to help reduce dropout and improve children’s nutrition.

The district, crisscrossed by the Teesta, Dharla and Saniazan rivers, has 36 char areas.

Schools in many of these areas face particular challenges because of poverty, seasonal flooding, river erosion and difficult communication.

A national programme

The Lalmonirhat experience comes as the government is expanding school feeding as part of its broader effort to improve primary education and address child nutrition.

In March, the Education Minister M  Ehsanul Hoque Milon told Parliament that a school-feeding programme in government primary schools in 150 upazilas is being implemented from January 2025 to December 2027 to improve students’ nutrition and learning outcomes.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council approved a Tk 5,452.42 crore programme covering 19,419 government primary schools in 150 upazilas. About 3.13 million students are expected to receive nutritious food five days a week under the programme.

The programme has also drawn attention to the importance of food quality and monitoring.

The government has warned that irregularities in supplying nutritious food will not be tolerated and said food allocated for each day should be distributed to students on that day.

Creating jobs for rural women

The programme is also creating a small but significant economic opportunity for women in rural communities.

In Lalmonirhat, buns are produced using automated machinery at Al Madina Bakery in Hatibandha and supplied in packets bearing the government logo.

Boiled eggs and bananas are supplied through women living near the participating schools. The implementing organisation, Eco-Social Development Organisation (ESDO), supervises the women involved in the supply chain.

ESDO district manager Babul Akter Zaman said the arrangement has created opportunities for unemployed rural women to earn an income.

“By involving a woman near each school, we have created opportunities for women entrepreneurs. They receive their payments every week and some of them are earning around Tk 4,000-5,000 a month,” he said.

Another NGO, RDA, supplies 200-millilitre packets of milk under the programme.

The involvement of local women in food distribution means the programme is not only reaching children but also generating small-scale employment in communities where formal job opportunities are limited.