Essay on Mid Day Meal Scheme

Mid Day Meal Scheme

Poverty and hunger are the most prevailing issues in our country India. The poor sections of the society spend their whole life earning money for getting two times bread in a day. They are not able to send their students to study as the children of the poor sections of society are involved in working. The government has introduced several programs and policies to benefit these sections of society. The mid-day meal scheme is also one of them and is also promoting Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

Short and Long Essay on Mid Day Meal Scheme in English

This topic is very important to the students for competitive exam preparation. I have provided a long essay on this topic and hoping that it might be helpful in getting information about the topic.

Mid Day Meal Scheme Essay 10 Lines (100 – 150 Words)

1) On 15 August 1995 the government of India introduced a mid-day meal system.

2) This scheme is introduced for the welfare of poor children.

3) Under this scheme, students are provided food in schools.

4) The scheme aimed to feed poor students which are necessary for their growth.

5) This scheme also encourages the literacy rate in society.

6) The government is responsible for the financial funding of this scheme.

7) Poor find this a good scheme to feed their children and gain an education.

8) On 28 November 2001, Supreme Court ordered every state to practice this scheme.

9) Corrupt practices and discrimination are the challenges of this scheme.

10) Mismanagement sometimes leads to poor food quality that affects children’s health.


Mid Day Meal Scheme: A Great Initiative by the Government of India – Short Essay (300 Words)

Introduction

Education is very important for the good future of the students. Poverty is the most crucial problem in developing country India. The students instead of going to schools help their parents by doing labour and earning money. The poor people could not afford their children to send to schools for getting a good education.

Mid Day Meal Scheme – A Great Initiative by the Government of India

The government of India had introduced a scheme called a mid-day meal scheme in 1995. The scheme was initiated to benefit the poor students in society. The vision of launching this scheme was to provide good and healthy food to the students that are most essential for their growth and development. Moreover, it also aimed at enhancing the literacy rate in the nation.

Benefits of Implementing the Mid Day Meal Scheme

There are several benefits of implementing the mid-day meal scheme in India. These benefits have been stated below:

  • The parents in the village and tribal areas have started sending their children to school thinking that this will help their children to get good food one time a day.
  • A good number of students have started attending the schools regularly.
  • This initiative gave a boost to girl education in the backward areas. As a result, the percentage of girl students has also increased in the schools. Earlier the people in village and backward areas did not prefer to send girl child to attend schools.
  • The initiative helped in enhancing the feeling of social equality among the students in the schools. Every student belonging to any caste, creed, or religion eats together in the school. This increases the sense of equality among the students.

Conclusion

There are several challenges that are reducing the efficiency of the mid-day meal scheme. It needs good management and proper jurisdiction to work well and become successful.


Is the Mid Day Meal Scheme Successful – Long Essay (1000 Words)

Introduction

The children are the future of the nation. Educated children will lead to the progress of our society nation. The children can learn and make the country proud of their contribution if they get a proper education. This can only happen if every child in our nation attends school. A mid-day meal is a great step taken by the government ensuring health and nutrition along with studies of the school-going children.

What is the Mid-Day Meal Scheme?

The mid-day meal scheme is a national scheme launched by the government of India on 15 August 1995. The financial fund for the scheme is allocated to the central and state government. This scheme is initiated to improve the nutrition status of the school’s children. It is applicable in the government, government-aided schools, Education guarantee scheme, alternate innovative education centers, madarsa, and maqtabs that are under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. The students are provided with a nutritious lunch every day they attend schools leaving the holidays. This scheme is mainly about the lunch served to the students attending the schools. Several amendments have been made to the scheme whenever required.

How did the Concept of Mid-Day Scheme Originate?

The credit for starting the concept of the mid-day meal scheme goes to the British Administration. It launched the mid-day meal program for Madras Corporation in 1925. Later the French Administration introduced the midday meal program in Puducherry in 1930.

In independent India, the beginning of the midday meal was done by Tamil Nadu. The state introduced the midday meal program to encourage students for coming to schools and attend the classes. Later the Supreme Court on 28 November 2001 ordered every state to implement the scheme and every government primary school to provide mid-day meals to the students.

The Vision of Mid Day Meal Scheme

  • The scheme is of utmost importance for the children of weaker section s of society and rural backgrounds who are devoid of proper education and food.
  • It will help in greater enrolment of students in schools.
  • The children will also get nutritious lunch that is important for their growth along with studies.
  • According to the guidelines of mid day meal scheme every lower primary children must be provided with 450 calorie diet and 12 gm protein and the upper section children with 700 calorie diet and 20 gm protein every day.
  • It is stated that the children will be benefitted from the scheme in school premises only.
  • This scheme would increase the attendance in schools.
  • It states about improving the infrastructure of cooking places in schools for cooking the food in proper hygienic way.

Challenges of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme

  • Food of Poor Quality – There had been different types of complaints reported by different states regarding the inconveniences in the midday meal scheme. The whole focus is on attaining the publicity instead of knowing the reality grounds. The news of some insect or snake in food, uncooked food, tasteless food, death due to poisoning of food has been reported. This has aroused fear in the mind of parents for not sending their children to school. This is a great hindrance to making the scheme successful.
  • Discrimination on Basis of Caste – According to the guidelines of the midday meal scheme it has been stated that the people of scheduled caste and tribes must be employed for working and cooking foods in schools. The students of the upper caste have denied eating the food prepared by the lower caste people. The scheduled caste students faced discrimination in the schools. They were treated badly by the upper caste teachers and students. They were served from a distance to avoid touch. This made the scheduled caste parents stop sending their children from going to schools.
  • Corrupt Practices – The mid-day meal scheme is a grand scheme launched in India. The food is not provided according to the guidelines of the government. The funds are not properly utilized to provide nutritious food to the students. The children are provided with only chapatti and salt that is not nutritious. This is leading to the violation of the rules.

Is the Mid Day Meal Scheme Successful or not?

The midday meal scheme has been launched in 1995 that means the scheme has completed two decades. It is said as the grand mission with an objective to fulfill the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. The scheme was a great start for a noble cause but could not become much successful as it could have been. There are some examples of cases that are havoc for this scheme. The recent news of children dying and suffering in districts like Chhapra, Bihar, Goa, etc is devastating. If we observe these cases we cannot say that the scheme is successful. The officials and school administration must be questioned and punished for corrupt practices. The weekly record must be maintained by the students.

The scheme has been limited up to providing food for the poor. The scheme was laid down with an initiative to increase the enrolment in schools along with the nutritious lunch. Therefore it can be said that the scheme could not serve well in fulfilling its objective. No doubt the scheme was able to bring students back to schools but the implementation of the scheme needs a lot of changes to make the scheme successful on real grounds.

Conclusion

There are many states and districts in the nation where the scheme is successful to a larger extent but the results of some places are saddening. The main focus has to be made on the proper implementation of the scheme. The loopholes in the system and the challenges need to be solved to get better results from the scheme.

FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

Q.1 When was the mid-day meal scheme launched?

Ans. The mid-day meal scheme was launched on 15 August 1995.

Q.2 Where was the mid-day meal scheme started first in India?

Ans. Tamil Nadu was the first state to start the mid-day meal scheme in India.

Q.3 What was the aim of introducing the mid-day meal scheme?

Ans. The main aim of introducing the mid-day meal scheme was to make Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan successful.

Q.4 How many days the mid-day meal is served?

Ans. The mid-day meal is served to the students every working day except holidays.

Q.5 When did the cooked mid-day meal scheme started being served instead of dry ration?

Ans. The cooked food in schools was started being served from 1st September 2004.