The Mid Day Meal Scheme is a multi-faceted programme of the Government of India that, among other things, seeks

to address issues of food security, lack of nutrition and access to education on a pan nation scale. It involves provision for free lunch on working days for children in Primary and Upper Primary Classes in Government, Government Aided, Local Body, Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and Alternate Innovative Education (AIE) Centres, Madarsa and Maqtabs supported under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Schools run by Ministry of Labour

A World Bank report states that India has 42 percent of the worlds underweight children. According to the studies by National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau (NNMB), National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) and Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), 58.6 percent of the children of the age group 69 years and 77.9 percent of the children of the age group 10-13 are underweight. If the mild under nutrition is added to underweight, this number increases to 94.1 percent and 96.4 percent respectively. 30.1 percent of all children of 1013 age group are severely underweight. The school dropout rate is as high as 60 percent

The roots of the programme can be traced back to Pre-Independence era when a Mid Day Meal Programme was introduced by British administration for disadvantaged children in Madras Municipal Corporation in 1925. In 1928 Keshav Academy of Calcutta introduced compulsory Mid-Day Tiffin for school boys on payment basis at the rate of four annas per child per month

Mid Day Meal Programme was introduced in the Union Territory of Puducherry by French Administration from the year 1930. A school lunch program was started in parts of Kerala in 1941, followed by Bombay implementing a free mid-day meal scheme in 1942 which, with UNICEF assistance, distributed skimmed milk powder to children aged between 613 years. Another project was launched in Bangalore city in 1946 where the scheme provided cooked rice with curds to the children.

This programme is been in operation since 1961

throughout country.
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Mid day meal scheme was launched and sponsered on 1st august 1995 and is revised in 2009. In UP, Launched in 2002. Cooked mid day meal started in 2004.

To address health, education, nutrition and social equity

issues.

Its main aim to remove hunger & malnutrition in poor

In 1953, Uttar Pradesh Government introduced a scheme, on voluntary basis, to provide meals consisting of boiled or roasted or sprouted grams, ground-nut, puffed rice, boiled potatoes or seasonal fruits. During 1962-63, Tamil Nadu became the first state in India to initiate a noon meal programme to children with the launch of Mid Day Meal Programme in primary schools .

The objectives of the mid day meal programme were to increase the enrolment, retention and attendance of children in school leading to universalisation of primary education, impacting learning and simultaneously also improving the nutritional status of children.

The primary objective of the scheme is to provide hot cooked meal to children of primary and upper primary classes. With other objectives of improving nutritional status of children, encouraging poor children, belonging to disadvantaged sections, to attend school more regularly and help them concentrate on classroom activities, thereby increasing the enrollment, retention and attendance rates. According to the government, it is the worlds largest school feeding programme, reaching out to about 120,000,000 children in over 1,265,000 schools and Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) centers' across the country.

A cooked mid day meal makes the school attractive for the child and along with enrolment and attendance it impacts the learning process.

Studies have shown that children come to school on an empty stomach and the issue of classroom hunger is extremely serious.

 The contribution of the MDM to food

security and child nutrition was especially crucial in tribal areas where hunger is epidemic. Households run by women, widows and of the landless as well as mothers who had to work through the day placed a deep value on the free lunch provided in the school.

The objective to achieve is cooked mid day meal of minimum 300 calories & 8 to 12 gm of proteins and content is to be provided to all children in class 1st to 5th. Food grains must be stored in a place away from moist place. Use whole wheat or broken wheat for preparing mid day meal. Rice should be per boiled and sprouted pulses have more nutrients.

Assessment to be done for the following aspects -

The kind of food provided. The infrastructure in schools. The problems of teachers in implementing the MDM. The participation of people, women etc. Involvement of the Ward Committee. Agency that provides food.

ITEM CALORIES PROTEIN (IN GRAMS)

PRIMARY (CLASS 1 TO 5) 550 12

UPPER PRIMARY (CLASS 6TH TO 8TH ) 700 20

RICE /WHEAT (IN GRAMS)

DAL (IN GRAMS) VEGETABLE(IN GRAMS) OIL AND FATS (IN GRAMS)

100
20 50 5

150
30 75 7.5

Irregularity in serving meals Irregularity in supply of food grains to schools Caste based discrimination in serving of food Poor quality of food Poor coverage under School Health Programme Poor infrastructure (kitchen sheds in particular Poor hygiene Poor community participation