MID-DAY MEALS-A GROUP PROJECT BY

VIII B

WHAT IS A MID-DAY MEAL ?

The Midday Meal Scheme is a school meal

programe of the Government of India designed

to improve the nutritional status of school-age

children nationwide.The programe supplies free

lunches on working days for children in Primary

and Upper Primary Classes in Government,

Government Aided Associations. Serving

120,000,000 children in over 1,265,000 schools

and Education Guarantee Scheme centers, it is

the largest such programme in the world.

BRIEF HISTORY

• Existed in India since 1960's.

• In 1995, Government of India

implemented it as the National

Programme of Nutritional Support to

Primary Education.

• Many states provided only “dry

rations” until 2001.

• Cooked meals were only provided in

Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and

parts of Madhya Pradesh and

Orissa.

M G Ramachandran extended midday

meals to all primary schools in India.

THE “RIGHT TO FOOD” CASE

On 28 November, 2001 the Supreme

Court issued the following order:

“implement the Mid-Day Meal Scheme

by providing every child in every

government and government assisted

primary school with a prepared mid-

day meal with a minimum content of

300 calories and 8- 12 grams of

protein each day of school for a

minimum of 200 days”.

The Official

logo of Right to

Food

THE OFFICIAL LOGO OF MID DAY

MEAL BY GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.

A typical Menu of MDM at a

school.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Enrolment, retention and attendance

• Nutritional impact

• Socialization and Educational benefits

• Form of Income support

Food being

served at a

school in

Tamilnadu.

SOCIALIZATION AND HEALTH BENEFITS

• Socialization (Eating together).

• Overcoming caste discrimination (Denial of food to Scheduled caste children, Segregated seating, separate food/utensils for children of different castes).

• Inculcating hygienic habits (Washing hands and utensils before and after eating, eating together).

Children

enjoying food

without thinking

of caste discrimination.

EDUCATIONAL BENEFITS

Impact on learning: –

- Eliminates classroom hunger.

- Children able to concentrate better as

many children would come to school on

empty stomach.

- Makes school environment more fun.

”

“The mid-day meal is a well-intentioned scheme and has to be implemented effectively.

- a group project by

• Neha

• Kritika

• Nikhil

• Mudit

• Mandeep