A photo of a schoolboy holding a plate with food items like puri, ice cream, fruits, paneer curry, Milkshake, etc. is being widely shared on social media platforms claiming that these items are served under Mid-Day meal scheme in Uttar Pradesh’s Government schools. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Image of items served in an Uttar Pradesh Government school under the Mid-day meal scheme.
Fact: The menu displayed on the official Mid-day meal website doesn’t show any of these items. According to Navbharat times, Sarpanch of the village Amit, along with the schoolteachers arrange for these special meals occasionally with the help of donors. Also, through a Facebook post, he clarifies that the viral image belongs to one such event celebrated on 31 August 2022. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING
The background text in the photo says, “Upper primary school, Malakpura. District- Jalaun”. But the menu on the official Mid-Day Meal website doesn’t match with the items seen in the viral picture.
Further, we searched online with relevant keywords and found an article by Navbharat times published on 01 September 2022 about this meal in the school.
According to this article, at the Upper Primary School in Uttar Pradesh’s Malakpura, apart from the regular mid-day meal, items like paneer, puri, vegetables, Rasgulla, sweets, kheer, icecream, etc. are also served to the students on birthdays and select occasions. This is possible due to combined efforts of the teachers and the village sarpanch Amit. Amit said that there are about 90 students in Malakpura and Gulabpura school who are served such food. At the same time, people also complained that in many schools of Jalaun, students are not served with proper mid-day meal menu. We found the latest Facebook post shared by Village sarpanch regarding this issue.
In the post he writes, “School pictures of Gram-Panchayat Malakpura are viral on social media since yesterday. These pictures are of the food given to children under the #dinner. This system is going on in our village panchayat from July 2022. While the Add-on MDM system started earlier continues from 14 February 2022. This is a completely transparent process. Our Panchayat schools are probably the first schools in the state to do this. All this can be possible only with public cooperation”. The Original post shared by Amit on 31 August 2022
A photo of students holding a board which reads, “Happy Birthday Saurabh Bhayya” is also available from these pictures.
Further, we scrolled through the timeline of the Amit and found several occasions where children were treated with special dishes. They can be seen here and here.
To sum it up, the food items shown in the viral image are not served under Mid-day meal scheme by UP government. The school teachers and sarpanch of the village arrange these meals on special occasions with the help of donors.
