To Improve Mid-Day Meals, There are Some Gaps and Some Fixes

Serving children mid-day meals in their school started first in 1956 by the government of Tamil Nadu. At present, the mid-day meal scheme has been taken by the national government and implemented across the country. The scheme is often praised for boosting school enrollment and improving child nutrition and health, at the same time. Despite this there are several shortcomings. An important problem to resolve is its implementation by both the central and state governments. There are interesting community driven and private partnerships models that can help here. A scheme on its own can be outstanding. But if implemented poorly it will have little effect.

Despite its popularity, the Midday Meal scheme has had several shortcomings. The mid-day meal scheme aimed to boost school enrollment with meals as an incentive to attend school. It also improved child nutrition, at the same time. While school enrollment did go up, many problems came up with the meals provided. While students may get one guaranteed nutritious meal but regularity and the quality of these meals is a problem yet to be resolved. 

There were several cases of meals containing insects and some of them being undercooked. Reports have also noted the presence of uric acid in the food grains used for the meal. The argument about meal quality should not be dismissed. Surveys suggest about 10% of parents reported their children felt unwell after the mid-day meal, at least once in the year 2002. For example in Rajasthan, frequently served ghoogri was served undercooked, repeatedly. This caused digestive issues for several kids.

Lack of cooking and storing facilities in schools is a major explanation behind poor quality meals. Food in many instances is cooked outdoors in makeshift sheds, or in a classroom. Teachers spend their already constrained time to organise and supervise mid-day meals, which can disrupt classroom activities. Several schools also had to face the problem of lack of fuel and also had inadequate drinking water arrangements to cook. A survey found that only one-third of the schools surveyed had appointed helpers to assist with the cooking. 

Mid-day meals aren’t supervised well and formal monitoring is infrequent. Despite official guidelines requiring various committees and officers to periodically oversee the scheme, these checks are sporadic. Inadequate supervision leads to various issues, including petty corruption, logistical delays, and poor hygiene. There are also logistical delays at different stages. There are widespread complaints about delayed cash payments post grain delivery. Cooking staff salaries are often delayed for months, and many teachers and sarpanch reported contributing advance money from their own pockets to pay for vegetables and other related inputs for the meal. In some states, transport costs are not fully covered, forcing mid-day meal organisers and teachers to make ad hoc arrangements. The loss of grain between FCI godowns and schools, or the substitution of high-quality grain with lower-quality grain by opportunistic intermediaries is also an issue. There are also problems like delays in grain delivery by state government distributors.

There have also been several regional contrasts. For decades, Tamil Nadu has consistently provided nourishing school meals. In contrast, states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are yet to implement mid-day meal programs efficiently despite orders from the Supreme Court. The mid-day meal scheme in India has been found to intensify existing inequalities, leading to social isolation. In Rajasthan, for example, children from lower castes were often prohibited from using school utensils and had to drink water with their cupped hands, while others freely accessed school utensils. Since many families now depend on the mid-day meal scheme to provide one nutritious meal on school days to the students, the problem of feeding these children has risen during the holidays. The Supreme Court has ordered the continuation of this program in drought affected areas during the holidays too, but it can still be a problem for families in other areas.

Indian states differ financially, with Tamil Nadu and Karnataka potentially implementing the scheme more effectively than UP and Bihar due to higher resources. Recognising the mid-day Meal scheme’s importance, all states should prioritise adequate funding for it over other initiatives. 

The Akshaya Patra Foundation, a nonprofit run by ISKCON, has been a key contributor to the success of the Mid-Day Meal scheme. This public-private partnership exemplifies how involving more private players can be beneficial to the programme too. Community driven models with minimal government involvement show another approach that can work for the mid-day meal scheme. Identifying how to incentivise communities to step up is an idea certainly worth exploring.

While there’s no single solution to these challenges, many depend on government action—or sometimes inaction. This includes more autonomy to the local schools on decision making, and reducing the hold of the state government. Local schools understand their needs best and can make better decisions, especially regarding the mid-day meal scheme’s challenges. The state now has two roles: increase funding for schools to operate independently and enhance inspections to ensure proper implementation of the scheme.