By IANS
Bhopal : Madhya Pradesh has become the first state in the country to extend the mid-day meal programme to middle schools. Till now the programme was only available in primary schools.
“The Implementation of the mid-day meal programme is now being extended to all the government and government-aided middle schools in 203 educationally backward blocks in 45 districts of the state,” Pradeep Bhargava, additional chief secretary and chief coordinator of the programme told IANS.
The scheme provides free lunch to students on all school days.
The key objectives of the programme are to address malnutrition, increase school enrolment and attendance and improve social interaction among children irrespective of caste and religion.
“A majority of the children coming to these schools are from underprivileged families and for most of them the mid-day meal is the only big meal they have in a day. So the meals have been planned to provide the children with adequate nutrition. Children will be served a varied menu comprising rotis, rajma, dal, and vegetables amounting to much more than the 700 calories per meal as stipulated by the Supreme Court”, Bhargava added.
“While dal, vegetable and roti would be served to the students in wheat consuming areas, rice would be served in place of roti in the rice consuming areas,” he said.
The central government will provide free wheat and rice while the state government will share the cost of preparing the meals.