MID-DAY MEAL

Arjun Rai
Chhabra

Chahat

Introduction

TheMid Day Meal Schemeis a programme of theGovernment of

Indiadesigned to improve thenutritionalstatus of school-age children
nationwide.

The programme supplies free lunches on working days for children in

Primary and Upper Primary Classes in Government, Government Aided,
Local Body, Education Guarantee Scheme, and Alternate Innovative
Education Centers,Madrasaand Maqtabs supported underSarva
Shiksha Abhiyan.

History

The roots of the programme can be traced back to the PreIndependence era, when a Mid-Day Meal Programme was
introduced in 1925 inMadras Corporationby the British
administration.

A Mid- Day Meal Programme was introduced in the Union

Territory ofPuducherryby the French administration in 1930.

Initiatives by State governmenttee to children, with their

launch of a Mid- Day Meal Programme in primary schools in
the year 196263.

ThiruK. Kama raj, then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu,

introduced its first in Chennai and later extended it to all
districts of Tamil Nadu.

MID-DAY MEAL

MID-DAY MEAL

Norms for engagement of cook-cumhelper:

1) One cook- cum-helper for schools up to 25 students.

2) Two cooks-cum-helpers for schools with 26 to 100 students.

3) One additional cook-cum-helper for every addition of upto 100 students.

Cooking Cost

In Rupees

Per primary child

Rs. 3.59

Per upper primary child

Rs. 5.38

Budget allocation

Leading organisations
engaged in MDMS

Malnutrition : A curse on
humanity

Trend in World

Underweight children under

five years in developing
countries

Global Hunger Index

State wise statistics before

& after MDMS

Performance of states

Enrollment rate in primary

and upper primary school

Tragedy/ Problems occurred

in Mid-day meal Scheme

The village school in Bihar where 23 children died by poisoning in

July 2013.

A total of 54 students of a government middle school in Bihar's

Sitamarhi district fell ill on 5th of July 2014, after eating midday meal in which a 'snake' was found.

The problems include grain kept in decrepit condition in

central warehouses, and then often stored and cooked in
poorly-equipped schools by staff with little or no training.

In December 2006, The Times of India reported that school

staff were falsifying attendance and enrollment figures in order
to obtain food grains. Four people were charged in the scam.

Role of a health manager

As a health manager, we have to act at

grass root level and the main purpose is
to provide the safe food to the children.

The health promotion theory that can be

used for improving hygienic conditions.

By applying information processing

theory, as a health manager we aim at
persuading the community for adopting
the practices through Information
Education Communication and social
marketing.

The main function of a health manager

in improving quality of mid -day meal &
to educate and spread awareness in
community.