The bell is about to ring for lunch. Mahesh Khatri, who studies in class 2, is going out to get his tiffin. He has the responsibility of taking not only his own tiffin, but also that of all his classmates.

According to the class, the tiffin with lunch reaches the classroom before the ringing of the bell . Then the students start eating their tiffins. Friend Swastika Marasini was helping to introduce tiffin and deliver lunch to the places where friends were. 

Hrithik Thakur, who is studying in class 3, was also taking the tiffin of his class inside . After that, everyone starts eating their lunch after recognizing their tiffin. This is a view of Monday afternoon lunch time at Mahendra Secondary School, Tamghas, headquarters, under the federal government's student lunch program for students up to class 5 studying in public schools. 

The responsibility of lunch in this school has been taken by Chamena Griha (Canteen) operated within the school. In this school, which serves a different lunch every time, students send their empty tiffin to the canteen in the morning through the teaching staff. Then the lunch is kept in the tiffin and comes to the classroom. Then they eat lunch . This is their daily routine for 6 days a week.  

The government has been providing mid-day meals to students up to 5th grade, but the rate is very low, but it is becoming a problem. Although the federal government has announced that it will provide lunch at the rate of Rs. 20 per student in the budget of the current financial year, so far the students are only getting it at the rate of Rs. 15 per day.

The schools which are serving balanced nutritious lunches by banning junk food complain that even with the increased amount, it will be difficult to sustain the lunch of the students. According to the latest data of the Education Management Information System (IMIS), a total of 62,406 students are studying in Gulmi up to class 12. Ramprasad Panthi of the school administration of Education Development and Coordination Unit Gulmi said that there are 36 thousand 513 students studying up to class 5 in the district. According to this data, a total of 36,513 students from 489 schools have taken the facility of lunch.  

Prem Bahadur Thapa, the headmaster of Jeevandwar Secondary School in Kaligand Rural Municipality-4 Purtighat, said that lunch has added financial burden to the school. "We had a quarterly loss of 20,000 when we had employees before," he said. "Now we feed from the canteen but the situation is the same."

In Kaligandaki, a menu of eggs, chickpea eggs and fried rice with dal and rice has been made for two days . But Thapa said that gram and eggs could not be fed in recent days. "Until now, 15 rupees has provided enough sustenance, it is not possible to feed a full stomach," he said.

Yamlal Aryal, principal of Neta Darling Secondary School in Malika Rural Municipality-2 Darling, said that it was very difficult when the rate of lunch was low. "There is no burden on the school when we outsource," he said.

According to the student's attendance, after the payment from the municipality, the person who takes charge of the lunch gets paid . Everyone should do it . This school had a financial burden of 7 thousand last year from student lunch. Janbodh Secondary School located in Rurukshetra rural municipality-4 and 5 provides full lunch to the students . Principal Vamdev Gyawali said that instead of reaching the rate of 15 rupees per student, the school is investing 10 rupees to 25 rupees from its own resources. ``Rs 15 lunch does nothing, we have done it by spending,'' he said, ``The school is spending more on staff, gas, and utensils.'' Even if two gas per month is enough, it costs Rs. 25 per student. Gyawali said that the school had to spend 10 rupees per student for this. This amount is managed from the interest coming from the savings account of the school. 

Gyawali said that the lunch had a positive effect on the students. ``Reading hungry and reading with pleasure after having lunch is a very different thing,'' he said, ``If you can increase the rate of lunch, you can have a better effect on the learning of the students.'' He said that since there is a canteen operating within the school, they are serving as many lunches as possible. "It is becoming very difficult to serve lunch according to this rate," he said, "we have managed it as we have our own canteen." Junk food is completely prohibited in school lunch. Even though it varies from place to place, in school, according to the bar, they prepare snacks such as dal and rice, chickpeas, chickpeas and eggs, fruits, corn and bhattamas, halwa, kheer and roti . It is difficult to maintain a regular lunch at the current rate of Rs. Even though the rate is small, the local government has not expressed any interest in it, even though it will cost a large amount.

The federal government has announced in the budget of the current financial year that by adding 5 rupees to the student lunch, it will be 20 rupees per student from July 1, but it has not yet been implemented in schools here. Students are still eating lunch worth 15 rupees. DB Khadka, chairman of Thanapati Basic School Management Committee, located in Malika Rural Municipality-8, said that although it was announced in the budget, it is yet to be implemented. "Even though it is said that it will be implemented, no instructions have come," he said, "even if the increased rate is somewhat easier, it does not seem to be enough for just 20 rupees." He said that even though the budget for lunch was received in basic schools in rural areas, there was a problem due to the lack of arrangements for cooking assistants. He said that the school which does not have its own source of income is not in a position to spend additional expenses including support.