MID DAY MEAL SCHEME INTRODUCTION

With a view to enhancing, retention and attendance and simultaneously improving nutritional levels among children, the National Programme of Nutritional Support for Primary EducationNPNSPE (i.e. the national Mid Day Meal SchemeMDMS) was initiated as centrally sponsored scheme on 15th August 1995 initially in 2408 blocks in the country. By the year 1997-98 the NP-NSPE was introduced in all blocks of the country. It was further extended in 2002 to cover not only children in classes I-V of government, government aided and local body schools, but also children studying in EGS and AIE centers. The Mid Day Meal (MDM) scheme has been revised in 2004 and as per the Supreme Court directive it envisages provision of cooked, nutritious Mid Day Meal to primary and secondary school children.12 crore (120 million) children are so far covered under the Mid-day Meal Scheme, which is the largest school lunch programme in the world. In July 2006 the scheme was further revised to provide assistance for cooking cost at the rate of Rs.1.80/child/school day for states in the North Eastern Region. Rs. 1.50/child/school day for the UTs. Currently, the Government of India (GOI) supplies food grains (wheat/rice) free through Food Corporation of India (FCI) and reimburse transportation cost at fixed rates. The allocation for various activities like preparation of food, cooking fuel, and creation of physical facilities, manpower resources and organization of capacity building is being undertaken by the states. Existing development programmes like Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) and Prime Ministers Grameen Yojana (PMGY) could be used for creating physical facilities such as construction of kitchen sheds etc. It is, perhaps, possible for using the funds for provision of innovative employment opportunities under the SGRY. There is a need for the Government of India to issue clear instructions regarding use of these funds for such purposes. Funds provided under DPEP could also be utilized for the purpose. The key objectives of the programme are: a) Protecting children from classroom hunger,

b) Increasing school enrolment and attendance, c) Improved socialisation among children belonging to all castes, d) Addressing malnutrition, and social empowerment through provision of employment to women. COVERAGE All children of primaty and upper primary classes attending Government school Government aided school Local body school Education guarantee scheme Alternative innovative education

Rationale Promoting school participation: Mid day meals have big effects on school participation, not just in terms of getting more children enrolled in the registers but also in terms of regular pupil attendance on a daily basis.

Preventing classroom hunger: Many children reach school on an empty stomach. Even children who have a meal before they leave for school get hungry by the afternoon and are not able to concentrate especially children from families who cannot give them a lunch box or are staying a long distance away from the school. Mid day meal can help to overcome this problem by preventing classroom hunger.

Facilitating the healthy growth of children: Mid day meal can also act as a regular ource of supplementary nutrition for children, and facilitate their healthy growth.

Intrinsic educational value: A well-organised mid day meal can be used as an opportunity to impart various good habits to children (such as washing ones hands before and after eating), and to educate them about the importance of clean water, good hygiene and other related matters.

Fostering social equality: Mid day meal can help spread egalitarian values, as children from various social backgrounds learn to sit together and share a common meal.In particular, mid day meal can help to break the barriers of caste and class among school. Appointing cooks from Dalit communities is another way of teaching children to overcome caste prejudices.

Enhancing gender equity: The gender gap in school participation tends to narrow, as the Mid Day Meal Scheme helps erode the barriers that prevent girls from Going to School. Mid Day Meal Scheme also provide a useful source of employment for women, and helps liberate workingwomen from the burden of cooking at home during the day. In these and other ways, women and girl children have a special stake in Mid Day Meal Scheme.

Psychological Benefits: Physiological deprivation leads to low self-esteem, consequent insecurity, anxiety and stress. The Mid Day Meal Scheme can help address this and facilitate cognitive, emotional and social development

A STUDY OF MDMS IN RAJASTHAN BY CUTS (2007) FOUND:

Initially, students were distributed boiled wheat supplemented with groundnut and jaggery (Gur) under the MDMS More than 90% parents and students were satisfied with the MDMS Each school is required to send a monthly expenditure statement and vouchers to the Panchayat Samiti, which is supposed to reimburse the amount within 15 days

Only 21% of the schools received the funds every month, in time. The rest got funds in a time ranging from 2 to 6 months (12% got funds once in 6 months)

97% of the teachers reported receiving good quality food grains Only 23% of the schools were able to receive food grains after getting them weighed before delivery

The absence of a weighing mechanism in most schools makes it difficult to measure the quantity of food grains delivered

Most schools lack adequate cooking and storage facilities i62% of the cooks interviewed said that the MDM was cooked in the open, which is unhygienic

Teachers are spending close to 20% of their time or more on managing MDMS instead of teaching.

HEALTH PROMOTION MODEL

AIM Health Challenges Achieving health for all Increasing school enrollment

Addressing Malnutrition and social empowerment

Reducing hunger among children

HEALTH PROMOTION MECHANISM

Fostering social equity

Promoting school participation

Healthy environemnt

IMPLEMENTATION STARTEGIES

Encouraging children to sit together and share common meal

School gardens to provide supplementary nutrition

Educating the parents, children and teachers on sanitation and hygiene

SOME RECOMMENDATIONS
1. An adequate infrastructure should be provided to the schools to carry out the preparation of the meals like separate kitchen or cooking area, storage space, proper utensils for cooking, serving and eating, provision of safe water for cooking, washing etc. 2. There should be proper provision of clean toilets and safe drinking water. There should be an emphasis on hygienic practices and environmental sanitation. 3. The food grains should be provided by GOI through buffer stocks, as this can be a very effective way of utilizing the buffer stocks 4. there should be a system of monitoring the quality of raw materials used, the hygienic quality of the cooked meal and feeding patterns at centres 5. The authority should organise the monthly meeting for those children who have been left out. This will ensure uniformity in organizing the meetings 6. There should be provision of using management information system (MIS) that collated from the village, block, district and state level to enable periodic monitoring of the programme. 7. Use of due list to track childrens 8. The mid day meal can be collaborated with VHSNC, to impart the awareness regarding sanitaiton and nutriton to the community. 9. We should encourage the participation of parents and community and NGO to make them aware about thr nutrition 10. Consistent and rigorous monitoring of the quantity and quality of the meal served to the children. 11. The capacity building programm eshould be organise for the workers to improve their skills 12. Use of information education and behavior change communication material to counsel mothers and generate awareness in communities