Mid Day Meal programme in District Budgam

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Introduction

The Mid Day Meal Scheme is a multi-faceted programme of the Government of India that, among other things, seeks to address issues of food security, lack of nutrition and access to education on a pan nation scale. It involves provision for free lunch on working days for children in Primary and Upper Primary Classes in Government, Government Aided, Local Body, Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and Alternate Innovative Education (AIE) Centre’s, Madarsa and Maqtabs supported under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Schools run by Ministry of Labour. The primary objective of the scheme is to provide hot cooked meal to children of primary and upper primary classes. With other objectives of improving nutritional status of children and encouraging poor children belonging to disadvantaged sections to attend schools more regularly and help them concentrate on classroom activities thereby increasing the enrollment, retention and attendance rates.

IMPACT

Mid Day Meals Programme has helped the poor families by lessening their hesitation to send their children to school where they do not have to worry about because as providing Mid Day Meals enhances the learning capacity of children as nutritious food is served to them every day at day time in the schools.

MAIN OBJECTIVE

The main objective of MDM Programme is to boost universalisation of Primary Education. This Programme is expected to attract more children to come to schools and in this way it has to increase enrolment, attendance, retention and bring down drop-out rate. Mid Day Meals with enhanced calorific energy content and increased quantity of proteins in food is also expected to improve the nutritional status of children.

Mid Day Meal Programme surely encourages poor children belonging to disadvantaged sections of the society to attend school more regularly. The rational of the Mid Day Meal Programme is that if it is successfully implemented, it would help in increasing the enrolment of children in school and minimizing the number of out of school children and drop-out rate. Parents of poor children will find less difficulty in sending their children to schools if meal is served to them.

NODAL AGENCY

Under Mid Day Meals programme district has designated one nodal officer / agency at the District / zonal level (e.g. the Zonal Education Officer etc.) that is assigned over-all responsibility of effective implementation of the programme at the district / Zonal level. The District Nodal Agency has to ensure that each school is informed of its monthly allocation of food grains and financial allocations for, cooking costs, honorarium to cook cum helpers kitchen cum cooking devices, etc. It shall also identify the transportation agency to transport food grains from the nearest FCI Godown to school. The transportations could be done once in a month.

COVERAGE

Under the Mid Day Meal Scheme, the enrolment of students in District Budgam has increased in Govt. schools. On the whole, Mid Day Meal Programme implemented in the district Budgam during 2001-02 has been able to a great extent to attract more children to schools with the introduction of serving day time cooked meals to them. As such daily attendance also has increased in schools.

ALLOCATION AND UTILIZATION OF FUNDS

A due emphasis has been given towards the effective implementation of flagship scheme of Mid Day Meals in the District Budgam. It is a centrally sponsored scheme with sharing pattern of state:centre 10%:90%. Honorarium to cook cum Helpers has been fixed @ Rs,1000/- per month on a sharing pattern of 90:10 basis.

QUANTUM OF MEALS

Daily quantum of meal provided to each child in the Government schools of District Budgam is described in the following table:-

MDM Approved per Child:
Primary: 100 gms
Elementary: 150 gms

NO OF SCHOOLS AND STUDENTS COVERED UNDER MID DAY MEALS

S.NO	DISTRICT	NO.OF SCHOOLS COVERED 2017-18			STUDENTS BENEFITTED
		Pry.	Upper Primary	Total	PS	UPS	TOTAL
1	Budgam	709	518	1227	37118	18901	56019