The roots of the mid day meal program can be traced back to the pre-independence era, when the British administration decided to come up with ways to help disadvantaged children. Today, this scheme seeks to address the following issues – food security, lack of nutritional food in rural areas, and access to education. It is hoped that by providing hot meals to children in lower primary and upper primary classes, more children will be encouraged to attend school regularly.    

Today, in India, 4 percent of the children do not attend school, and 58 percent of the children have not completed primary school. In fact, only 10 percent of the children in India make it to college. This is the education crisis that India is facing today. According to the government, the mid may meal program reaches out to more than 120 million children in over 1 million schools nationwide. However, has the number of children attending school increased over the past few years because of this scheme ?   

In fact, according to a government report, in Bihar, the attendance of children dropped by 9 percent in the last five years and in Madhya Pradesh, the attendance of children dropped from 67 percent to 54.5 percent between 2008 and 2011. And in other states such as Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, there is an increase in private school enrollment in rural areas over the past five years. This proves that the mid day meal program has not been effective in solving the school education crisis. Despite providing healthy meals for children, there is a significant decline in the enrollment of students in schools in rural areas. On paper, the government has urged schools to provide meals with a minimum of 300 calories for those studying in lower primary classes and meals with a minimum of 700 calories for those studying in upper primary classes.   

The Mid Day Meal is a significant part of the diet of Indian children. The meal is available to all primary and upper primary children (classes 1 to 8) in government schools, government-aided schools and Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) schools. Two out of three Indian children go to government schools alone (according to the 2011-12 India Human Development Survey). Not every child entitled to the mid-day meal receives it; the survey shows that 82% of children in government schools reported getting a mid-day meal. In all, at least half of all children in classes 1-8 in India get a mid-day meal.

How many children get a mid-day meal ?

For many, the mid-day meal is invaluable. The 2011-12 National Sample Survey (NSS) data shows, 10% of the meals that all primary school-age children (5-9) in rural India receive in a month are from school. The Mid Day Meal’s self-selection works; the poorest children in both rural and urban India get more meals per head from school than richer children, the NSS data shows.

There is evidence that the Mid Day Meal has contributed to the gradual improvement in child malnutrition indicators. The Mid Day Meal scheme explained at least one-tenth of the total reduction in stunting in India in between 206 and 2016, researchers at the International Food Policy Research Institute found. Adolescent girls, now 12-17, who got meals under the Mid Day Meal Scheme in 2004 were taller, they found. The effects on health were multi-generational; children born to young women who had received school meals in 2004 were less likely to be stunted.

Yet, the nutritional value of the meal is far from perfect. On paper, each hot cooked meal is meant to provide a primary school child with 450 calories and 12 grams of protein, and an upper primary child with at least 700 calories and 20 grams of protein. This is often not the case; earlier this year, journalist Pawan Jaisal recorded a government school in Uttar Pradesh’s Mirzapur serving the children rotis and salt only. In 2012-13, 90% of school lunches served to primary school students in Delhi did not meet the energy and protein norms.

This becomes important in the context of general under-nourishment among school-going children. The CNNS shows that the diets of school-age children are highly deficient, and they consume lower than recommended amounts of most healthy foods.

School-age children have deficient diets

The outcomes are evident. 22% of children 5-9 were stunted (low height for age), and 23% were thin (low Body Mass Index for age). 24% of adolescents (age 10-14) were thin. The prevalence of stunting was higher among children who were out of school.

School-going children have significant rates of malnutrition and micronutrient deficiency

For those from richer families, availability of healthy foods is a lesser problem (though it exists) compared to obesity and related non-communicable diseases, which stem from poor nutritional awareness.

However, there is no government body to monitor these schools and ensure that nutritious meals are reaching the students. A survey conducted by the Department of Economic and Statistical Analysis shows that 72 percent of schools do not have kitchens and facilities to cook. So, food would be cooked miles away and transported to the schools. By the time the food reaches these poor children, it would have turned cold. Also, 69 percent of the schools that were surveyed did not have proper eating utensils.     

So, the mid day meal scheme is not a solution to the school education crisis in India. Steps have to be taken by the government to ensure that schools have the proper facilities for cooking. In the last few weeks, there have been incidents of a dead lizard and insecticide being detected in mid day meals. This shows that the government has no mechanism in place to check the quality of food before it is consumed by children. Government schools lack the proper infrastructure for teaching, which is why students prefer to study in private schools. Those who are unable to afford an education in private schools prefer to work because of the horrific conditions of government schools. So, it is time for the government to take responsibility of the education system and provide proper facilities for the welfare of the children in India.