Midday Meal Scheme - Benefits and Drawbacks

Midday Meal Scheme - Benefits and Drawbacks

The Midday Meal Scheme is a big success story, having drastically reduced the school dropout rate wherever it has been implemented properly. In fact, children belonging to poor families are now able to get a decent education, at least till they are 14 years of age, only because their parents send them to attend school because of the meal available there. Hopefully, such children will develop into responsible

citizens of our country.

However, implementation of the scheme by the schools is patchy. In some cases, the food is not properly cooked or adequately nutritious as required by the scheme. This is due either to the carelessness or outright corruption of the principal / teacher-in-charge of the scheme in the school. Sometimes it is found that sub-standard material is used to prepare the meal or the conditions under which the meal is prepared lead to contamination of the foodstuffs. This causes illness among the children consuming the

food.

Thus the relevant authorities must carry out regular inspections in the schools to ensure that the scheme is implemented properly in letter and spirit. Then only will the true benefits accrue to the children, the real beneficiaries of the scheme.