Mid-day meal schemes and their flaws

 Mid-day meal schemes and their flaws

(By Aadesh Sharma ) 

Image By:- Sukriti Singh

Mid-Day Meal Scheme

“Mid-Day Meal-For lakhs of children, it is still the only meal of the day” by Ankush Sharma. For us, the privileged section of the society, we will never know how it feels to sleep hungry. We do not know how it feels to manage just a morsel of food a day. Often at expensive restaurants, as the waiter delays in serving our food, we say “I am dying of hunger”. Do we  know how it feels to die of hunger? No, we don’t. We use these words casually without thinking that in our Nation, each day, lakhs of children go to sleep without getting to eat the entire day. The Government has been devising various schemes for years to curb malnutrition and to provide food for all, but it has failed. Malnutrition and the diseases attached to it remain in our country. We are lucky we never had to think about our food. We always had more than we needed. We waste food without giving it a second thought. We never think of giving it away to someone who needs it. Before complaining of overeating while leaving the restaurant, just take a sideways look at the slum close by. We will see several starved kids playing outside or sharing a single piece of bread. 

The Beginning

The Mid-Day Meal Scheme was started even before India got its independence. It dates back to 1925 when this scheme was introduced in the Madras Corporation by the Britishers. In 1930 a similar scheme was introduced in Pondicherry by the French administration. Between the years 1962-63, this scheme was started by various state governments with Tamil Nadu initiating the scheme and showing the light for other states to follow. Gujarat was second in line to follow Tamil Nadu, though it discontinued in the later years. By 1900-91, many states started their  midday meal scheme to provide nutritious food to the growing children.

Thought Process Behind the Scheme

India’s biggest demon is poverty. Lakhs of people are struggling to survive each day. Out of 133 crores of population, 85 percent of the people are daily wage earners. Most of the citizens are underprivileged. They consider themselves lucky if they get to eat twice a day. The children mostly suffer from malnutrition as the parents are unable to provide them with food let alone nutritious food. Education is the last thing these people dream of. For them, being educated is a privilege. They need to eat and survive to get educated. The government thought of combining education and the problem of hunger and malnutrition .Thus this led to the evolution of the midday meal scheme. We always see a huge drop out in schools after class five. This is because these children start working once they are physically a bit strong. Children are seen as extra sources of income by the parents. However, if the school itself arranges for a regular meal, then the students would  flock to schools. Thus, providing nutritious food was a way  to retain children in school. The school continued providing education as well as nutritious food, hence serving both the purposes. 

Nutritious Food

The number of calories and protein to be provided by the midday meals were specified by the Supreme Court. In 2004, according to the Supreme Court’s order, every child between classes one to four was entitled to a minimum of 300 calories of food with 8 to 12 grams of protein in it as a part of the midday meal. In 2007, this scheme was extended to students from classes six to eight. Further changes were initiated in the coming years. At present, this scheme says that 

1. Every child is supposed to get 100 grams of food grain in the primary section and 150 grams of food grains in the upper primary section daily on all school days.

2. The food provided to the children should have 450 calories with 12 grams of protein for every student in the primary classes and 700 calories with 20 grams of protein for students in the upper primary classes. 

All students between classes one to eight studying in Government schools, Government aided schools, local bodies, alternative innovative education centers or National Child Labor Project schools were entitled to the Midday Meal Scheme.

Despite this scheme, 42.5 percent of the children are under-weight in our Nation. Often we see in the newspapers, the staff involved in midday meals, inflate the attendance of the students  to obtain more food grains for their benefit.  Though this scheme has not been able to solve the problems of malnutrition and starvation completely, yet it is  a very positive initiative as a part of the Government. This scheme also employs several women who cook the food. This scheme has a large number of benefits. Sometimes, different NGOs collaborate with the schools to provide nutritious meals to the children. We have various benevolent people coming out in support of this scheme and contributing to providing nutritious food among these children. Let us all join our hands together in feeding these children. United, we will defeat hunger one day. Let us all dream for an India where no child will be going to sleep hungry…

Disclaimer:-

The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Light de Literacy and LDL does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.