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Mid Day Meal Scheme :Objectives and Salient Features

Mid Day Meal :Objectives and Salient Features

The main objectives of the MDM scheme are:

*Increasing the enrolment of the children belonging to disadvantaged sections in the school.

*retain children studying in classes 1-8.

*To provide nutritional support to the children of the elementary stage in drought-affected areas.

Salient Features of Mid Day Meal

*It is the world’s largest school meal programme aimed to attain the goal of universalization of primary education implemented under the Ministry of Education the scheme.

*It is a centrally sponsored scheme and the cost is shared between the centre and the states. (Centre’s share – 60 percent.)

*The scheme was first implemented in Tamil Nadu.

In 2001, MDMS became a cooked midday meal scheme and under this scheme each eligible child was provided with a prepared midday meal for a minimum

of 200 days:

*Energy intake – 300 calories

*Protein intake – 8 to 12 grams

Till 2002, the scheme was only designed for government, government-aided and local body schools.

But Later, children studying in Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and Alternative & Innovative Education (AIE) centres too were included under the scheme.

In 2004, MDMS was revised:

*The Central assistance was provided for cooking cost

*Transport subsidy (Max. of Rs 100 per quintal for special category states and Rs. 75 per quintal for other states.

* Monitoring and evaluation of the scheme.

*In 2006, the MDMS was again revised:

*The Cooking cost was enhanced to Rs 1.80 per child/school day for States in the North Eastern Region and Rs 1.50 per child/school day for other States and UTs.

*Energy intake was increased from 300 calories to 450 calories and protein intake was increased from 8-12 grams to 12 grams.

*In 2007, class 6-8 children studying in 3,479 Educationally Backwards Blocks (EBBs) were included in the scheme.

*SSA-supported madrasas and maktabs were included in this scheme in 2008

*For micronutrients (tablets and deworming medicines), each child is entitled to receive the amount provided for in the school health programme of the National Rural Health Mission.