Midday Meal Scheme facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Midday Meal Scheme
Students receiving mid-day meal at a school in Wokha district of Nagaland state
Type of project	Government of India
Country	India
Launched	1995
Status	Active
Website	http://mdm.nic.in/

The Midday Meal Scheme is a big school lunch program in India. It aims to give free, healthy lunches to children across the country. This helps improve their nutrition. The program serves children in primary and upper primary classes. It includes kids in government schools, government-aided schools, and special education centers. It also helps children in Madarsas and Maqtabs supported by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Even National Child Labour Project schools run by the Ministry of Labour are part of it.

This scheme is the largest of its kind in the world. It feeds 120 million children in over 1.27 million schools. The program started in Puducherry under French rule in 1930. After India became independent, Tamil Nadu was the first state to launch it. This was in the early 1960s, led by Chief Minister K. Kamaraj. By 2002, the Supreme Court of India ordered all states to start the scheme.

In September 2021, the scheme's name changed to PM-POSHAN. This stands for Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman. The Ministry of Education changed the name. The government also plans to include 2.4 million more pre-primary students by 2022. India has promised to provide "adequate nutritious food" for children. This is part of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Midday Meal Scheme is supported by the National Food Security Act, 2013.

A Look Back: History of School Meals

The Midday Meal Scheme is a government program. It provides cooked lunch to children in all government elementary schools. Tamil Nadu was the first state in India to start this. The Sourashtra Boys Higher Secondary School in Madurai had a similar scheme since 1925. On November 28, 2001, the Supreme Court of India told all states to start this program. They had six months to do so.

This program has had many good effects. Poor parents who could not send their children to school now do. They want their children to get free, healthy food. This has increased the number of children going to school. Mothers who used to stop work to feed their children at home no longer need to.

Early Beginnings

The idea of midday meals goes back to before India's independence. A program started in Tamil Nadu in 1925. State governments began their own efforts in 1962–63.

K. Kamaraj, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, first started the program in Chennai. He then spread it across Tamil Nadu. This helped more children come to school. In 1982, Chief Minister M. G. Ramachandran improved the scheme. He called it the 'Nutritious Food Scheme'. He wanted to help the 6.8 million children suffering from poor nutrition. Gujarat was the second state to try a similar scheme in 1984. However, it was stopped later.

Kerala started its midday meal scheme in 1984. It slowly grew to include more schools and grades. By 1990–91, twelve states were funding the scheme. These included Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, and Uttar Pradesh. Some states like Karnataka, Odisha, and West Bengal got help from other countries. AP and Rajasthan had their programs fully funded by foreign aid.

In Karnataka, the Children's LoveCastles Trust started providing midday meals in 1997. They helped eight schools. They also started a food bank and a milk program. The state government's midday meal scheme later replaced the food-bank program.

Supreme Court's Important Order

In April 2001, a group called the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) went to the Supreme Court. This case was about the "right to food." The PUCL argued that everyone has a right to food. This right comes from the Indian constitution. They said that extra food stored by the Food Corporation of India should feed hungry citizens. This included providing midday meals in primary schools. The scheme became law after the Supreme Court's order on November 28, 2001. It required all government and government-assisted primary schools to provide cooked midday meals.

Key Court Orders

The Supreme Court sometimes gives special orders about midday meals. Here are some examples:

What Kids Get: Meal Entitlements

The program has rules for how much food and how many calories each child should get daily.

Children also get micronutrient tablets (like vitamin A, iron, and folate) and de-worming medicines. These are given through the school health program.

How the Scheme is Paid For

The central and state governments share the cost of the Midday Meal Scheme. The central government pays 60 percent, and the states pay 40 percent. The central government provides the grains and money for other food items. Costs for kitchens, transport, and workers are shared. The amount each state pays can be different. The money set aside for the scheme has increased a lot over the years. The cost to cook one meal per child per day is about ₹4.13 (7.0¢ US) for primary students. For upper primary students, it is about ₹6.18 (11¢ US).

How Meals are Provided

Local Cooking (Decentralised Model)

This is the most common way meals are made. In this model, local cooks and helpers or self-help groups cook the meals at the school. This system has several benefits:

• It can serve local foods.
• It creates jobs in the area.
• It reduces food waste.
• It allows parents and teachers to check the food easily.

However, if there are no proper kitchens or tools, it can be hard to keep things clean. There have been a few accidents. For example, in 2004, 87 children died when a cooking fire caused a classroom roof to catch fire. In 2011, a child was badly burned and died after falling into a cooking pot.

Central Kitchens (Centralised Model)

In this model, a separate organization cooks the meals. They then deliver the food to schools. This often happens through partnerships between the government and private groups. Central kitchens are more common in cities. This is because many schools are close together, making delivery easier. Benefits of central kitchens include:

• Better hygiene, as cooking is done on a large scale with machines.
• Many NGOs help provide these meals. Some examples are Akshaya Patra Foundation and Naandi Foundation.

A study in Delhi in 2007 found that even with central kitchens, food quality needed to get better. Teachers felt helpless if the food was not good. They did not know who to complain to. The Ministry of Human Resource Development reported that 95% of NGO-prepared meals in Delhi did not meet nutrition standards from 2010–2012. Because of this, the ministry held back 50% of the payment for those meals.

Help from Other Countries

Some international groups have also helped. Church World Service gave milk powder. CARE provided corn soya meal and oils. UNICEF gave high-protein foods and education support. In 1982, the 'Food for Learning' program started with help from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). This program first aimed to help girls from scheduled castes and tribes. In 1983, a plan was made to give meals to millions of girls in classes one to five. Many states were interested, but some worried about paying for it if FAO stopped helping.

Tithi Bhojan: Community Meals

Tithi Bhojan is a way for the community to get more involved in the Midday Meal Program. It started in Gujarat. Local people are encouraged to celebrate special events, like a child's birthday or a housewarming. They do this by donating to the midday meals at local schools. This can be sweets, snacks, full meals, or healthy items like sprouted beans. People also donate things like cookware or glasses for drinking water.

This idea has been adopted by 10 other states. They have different names for it. For example, it's "Sampriti Bhojan" in Assam and "Sneh Bhojan" in Maharashtra. In Uttarakhand, Haryana, and Chandigarh, it's still called Tithi Bhojan.

Checking How the Scheme Works

How the Program is Watched

Different groups at different levels check the Midday Meal Program.

The government of India also created Review Missions in 2010. These groups include people from the government, UNICEF, and the Supreme Court. They check the program and suggest ways to make it better. The scheme is checked by independent groups twice a year.

How Well is the Scheme Doing?

The Midday Meal Scheme has many good points. It helps bring children from disadvantaged groups to school. This includes girls, Dalits, and Adivasis. It helps them attend school more regularly. It also provides good nutrition and helps children learn to socialize. It even helps women.

Studies by experts show these benefits are real. More disadvantaged children are enrolling in school. Attendance has improved. Children are trying harder to learn. Their nutrition has gotten better.

However, there have been reports of problems. Sometimes, there is still unfair treatment based on caste when food is served. Also, there have been issues with how the program is run. These include:

• Food Theft: In December 2005, police caught trucks stealing rice meant for school children in Delhi.
• Missing Meals: In November 2006, villagers said students in Darjeeling had not received meals for a year and a half.
• Fake Attendance: In December 2006, a newspaper reported that school staff were lying about attendance to get more food.
• Food Safety Concerns: In July 2013, 23 children died in Bihar after eating contaminated midday meals. On the same day, many students in other villages also got sick after their meals.

Challenges and Improvements

Even with its success, child hunger is still a problem in India. Many children do not get enough to eat. This affects the country's overall progress. India has a very high number of hungry people. Child malnutrition rates are higher than in many other countries. Improving child nutrition is very important in most Indian states.

Images for kids

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  Mid-day meal scheme logo