Mid-Day Meal Scheme: An overview of enrolment under the scheme and fund utilisation
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 16, 2021
Data from the Mid-Day meal scheme for the last few years indicates that while the enrolment of children under the scheme increased till 2017-18, it has decreased in the last two years. The data also indicates that funds were not utilized fully in many states in 2018-19. Here is a review.
The National Programme of Mid-Day Meals (MDM) in School scheme is the Government of India’s (GoI) flagship school-based feeding programme. In this story, we look at the trends of enrolment under the scheme and overall fund utilisation by different states over the past few years. We will also look at the provisions provided under the scheme during the period of lockdown.
The National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (Mid-Day Meal Scheme) was launched as a centrally sponsored scheme on 15 August 1995. The scheme was intended to boost universalisation of primary education by increasing enrolment, retention and attendance simultaneously impacting the nutrition levels of children. The programme initially focussed on children at the primary stage (class I to V) in government, local body and government-aided schools. In October 2002, it was extended to cover children studying in the Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and Alternative and Innovative Education (AIE) Centres (now know n as Special Training Centres).
In December 2004, the Ministry of Human Resource Development issued revised guidelines for the Scheme. These guidelines laid emphasis on providing cooked meals with a minimum of 300 calories and 8-12 grams of protein content. There was a special focus on the enrolment, attendance, and retention of children belonging to disadvantaged sections. Nutritional support to students at the primary stage was also to be provided during summer vacations in drought-affected areas. Assistance for management, monitoring, and evaluation was also envisaged.
In 2008-09, the scheme was extended to children studying in upper primary classes. It was further extended in April 2008 to recognised Madarsas/Maktabs supported under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
The Programme Approval Board (PAB) approves the number of students to be provided benefit under the MDM scheme every year based on state proposals.
Challenges faced in effective implementation
Despite the existence of the MDM scheme over two decades and initiatives of the government in making several improvements in the contents of the scheme over the years, the actual implementation of the scheme suffers from various shortcomings and lapses across the board, as the CAG’s Performance Audit of Mid-Day Meal Scheme (Report no.36 of 2015) highlights. The report contains significant results of the performance audit on the implementation of the MDM Scheme in 27 states (except Mizoram) and seven UTs, where the scheme was under operation.
The performance audit of the scheme raised many red flags such as over-reporting of enrolment figures, cases of leakages, financial indiscipline, poor quality of meals and inadequate monitoring etc., which still persist.
Children covered under Mid-Day Meal scheme
The scheme was extended to cover all government, local body, government-aided primary and upper primary schools, and the Education Guarantee Scheme/Alternate Inclusive Education centres, including Madarsas and Maqtabs across the country. For the purpose of understanding the trends of enrolment under the scheme and fund utilisation, we have collated data furnished in various Lok Sabha answers.
The chart below gives a snapshot of the number of children covered under the scheme in different States/UTs over a span of 6 years.
Fund Utilised under Mid-Day Meal Scheme
To understand the utilisation of funds under the scheme, we look at the number of funds released/sanctioned vis-à-vis the expenditure under the scheme. A State/UT-wise snapshot of the percentage of funds utilised under the scheme over the past few years is presented below. The utilization in a particular year could be more than 100% since the unspent balance from the previous financial year is spent in that financial year.
Mid-Day Meal Scheme during Lockdown
During the COVID-19 lockdown, the State Government and UT Administrations were to provide Food Security Allowance (FSA) comprising of food grains, pulses, oil, etc (equivalent to cooking cost) to all eligible children till such time their schools are closed due to aforesaid pandemic. The ad-hoc grant released, and food grains already allocated for the MDM scheme were to be utilized for this purpose.
An answer from the Lok Sabha, from September 2020, highlighted the State-wise number of children provided Food Security Allowance (FSA) during March-August 2020.
If we compare these figures with the number of children enrolled under the scheme in 2019-20, we can observe the following:
Featured Image: Mid-Day Meal Scheme