Mid Day Meal Scheme: Schools to Partner with Local Women’s Groups After Complaints of Food Quality
Pune, 16th October 2024: Schools under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation and the Municipality have received numerous complaints regarding the quality of food provided to students through the government’s Mid Day Meal (MDM) program.
In response, the government has decided to discontinue the practice of issuing tenders for awarding contracts to centralized kitchens. Moving forward, school management will be required to select local women’s self-help groups or organizations to provide food to students.
The MDM program serves nutritious meals to students from classes 1 to 8 in eligible schools across the state. Since 2019, urban schools that lack space for food storage and kitchens have been receiving meals through a centralized kitchen system. Around 1.5 lakh students are served daily by 500 such centralized kitchens across the state, with the government spending ₹200 crore annually on this initiative.
Previously, women’s self-help groups, voluntary organizations, and NGOs were selected through a tender process conducted by municipal bodies such as the Municipal Corporation, Municipality, and City Council.
However, the government has received numerous complaints about irregularities in the program, including concerns over food quality and the non-supply of supplementary food as per government guidelines. The government also discovered that even after the expiration of agreements, some women’s self-help groups and organizations were given extensions at the municipal level, in violation of official policies.
In light of these issues, the State Government has approved improvements to ensure the effective implementation of the scheme and the decentralization of control. Existing agreements with centralized kitchens will remain valid until they expire.
Pramod Patil, Additional Secretary of the School Education Department, stated in the order that no further extensions should be granted to organizations and self-help groups once their agreements expire.
The daily allocation for rice and other food expenses, as set by the government, will be transferred to the School Management Committee, which will work with designated self-help groups and institutions to provide meals in accordance with government-prescribed recipes.
Additionally, it has been mandated that a majority decision by the School Management Committee is required for prioritizing the selection of women’s self-help groups and other relevant organizations.
An agreement must be renewed annually. Detailed instructions regarding the selection criteria for self-help groups, payment records, and oversight will be issued by the Director of Primary Education in coordination with the School Management Committee.
