Mid day

meal
program
 Introduction
The mid-day programme is also
known as “school lunch program”.
This programme has been in
operation since 1961 .
 Objectives
• The major of this programme

1. To attract more children for

admission in the school.
2. To enhance students
attendance in schools &
retain them .
3. To retain literacy of the
• This program was launched to
enhance the admission and
retain students in the school to
improve literacy and also to
improve health status of the
children.
• This program is also known as
noon meal program or school
lunch program. Under this
program the target group is
provided food supplements to
provide 1/3rd of the total energy
requirement and half of the
problem requirements
 i.e, about 300k cal. and 8-12gms of
protein/day/student. This is provided
for 200 days in a year.
• The school lunch program opportunity
in the school is used educate children
regarding planning nutritious menu
using locally available food stuffs ,
food hygiene , food habits etc.
• The program is the part of the
minimum need program since
the 5th five year plan.

• The program implementation

faces the problem related to
resource available and
management etc.
 The following broad principles should
be kept in mind-

• The meal should be a supplement & not a substitute

to the home diet.
• The meal should supply at least 1/3rd of the total
energy requirement,& half of the protein need.
• The cost of the meal should be reasonably low.
• The meal should be such that it can be prepared
easily in schools. No complicated cooking process
should be involved.
• Locally available foods should be used.
• The menu should be frequently changed to avoid
 History
• Tamil Nadu mid day meal program is
among the best known in the country.
Several other states of India also have
had mid day meal program. The most
notable among them is Gujarat that has
had it since the late 1980s.
• Kerala started providing cooked meals
in school since 1995 and so did MP and
Orissa in small pockets.
 With the aim of improving in 3
areas:-

• School • Reduced • A beneficial

attendance drop outs impact on
children’s
nutrition
 Aims of mid day meal
program
• To fulfill 1/3rd nutrition requirement of
children .
• To create interest about school and
education among school children.
• To reduce absenteeism of children in
school .
• To provide relief to parents of poor
children .
• To attract more children to the school.
 Objectives
• To provide food to meet the gap in nutritional
requirements particularly in poor children.
• To help the children to improve their performances
and nutritional status.
• To attract more children for admission to school and
return them so that literacy improvement of children
could be brought about.
• To increase primary education by increasing
enrolment retention and attendance and
simultaneously impacting on nutrition of students in
primary classes.
• To achieve the objective of a cooked mid day meal
with minimum 300calories and 8-12gms of protein
content will be provided to all children in class 1-5.
Sample menu of mid day
meal
• Cereals- 75gm/day/child
• Pulses- 30gm/day/child
• Green leafy vegetables-
30gm/day/child
• Other vegetables- 30gm/day/child
 Applied Nutrition
program (ANP)
• ANP was first started in Orissa and
Andhra Pradesh in the year 1963.By 1973
it was extended to whole India.
• It was started centrally sponsored
program, but now handed over to states.
• It is considered as a low priority program
comparing to other nutritional programs.
 AIM
• The principal objective is to
improve the nutritional status
of people by encourage them
to involve production of foods
and consumption of the self-
produced foods.
 Objectives
• To make people conscious of their
nutritional needs.
• To increases production of
nutritious foods and its
consumption.
• To provide supplementary nutrition
to vulnerable groups using local
production of foods.
Nutritive values-mid day meal
scheme provided in school
Components Primary child Upper
primary child

Calories 450 700

Protein 12g 20g

Micronutrients Adequate quantities of micronutrients like iron,

Folic acid and Vitamin A
 Beneficiaries
Pregnant and
Children lactating
between mothers
3 to 6
years
 Facilities needed for a
successful Midday Meal

Personne
Infrastructure
l

water
Equipmen
t