Mid-day Meal Scheme (MDMS) – The India Story:
The Mid-day Meal Scheme (MDMS) is a flagship programme of the Government of India, initiated in 1995 (in 2408 select blocks) with the objective of enhancing enrolment, retention and attendance at the primary school level, and also to simultaneously improve nutritional levels among children studying in government and government-aided schools. It is expected to improve their learning ability. Since 1997-’98 it has been universalized, and from 2008-’09 onwards even the upper primary school level has been brought under this programme. Initially, only dry rations were being distributed under the programme, but from 2002 provision for cooked mid-day meal in schools have been made under the direction of
…show more content…
There is no explicit provision for the right to food in the Constitution of India. However, the issue of right to food gained wider attention when the Supreme Court of India intervened through a writ petition filed by the PUCL (People’s Union for Civil Liberties) against the Union of India, Food Corporation of India, and six state governments under Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the year 2000. Responding to the Writ Petition the Supreme Court interpreted the Article- 21 in wider sense and delivered its historic judgment in 2001. In this judgment, the Supreme Court directed all state governments in India to provide cooked meal instead of dry ration to all primary school going children. The apex court asked the government to incorporate the right to food as an essential element in the policy making process. Expressing seriousness over the starvation deaths in Orissa, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and growing food insecurity and the state’s inaction, the Supreme Court directed to take immediate actions for the free distribution of food grains to the needy instead of storing and wasting it in the state government-owned warehouses and the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The Supreme Court also held the view that priority has to be given to those who are neither able to go for employment nor have the capacity to demand from the State. In this …show more content…
The Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS), the country’s national programme launched in 1995, aims to ensure that all children receive primary education and to boost the nutrition of students in primary-school classes. A pivotal Supreme Court ruling in 2001 – the result of a civil action – declared that school feeding was a right of all primary-school children and mandated the provision of cooked mid-day meals in primary schools. As a consequence, coverage increased nationwide (by more than 10 percent from 2001-2011) although wide regional disparities remain, mainly because of financial constraints at the state level. Nutritional guidelines and food basket quality have improved over time as
Overall, this book was a very eye-opening read that I would suggest to everyone especially those that want to see school lunches evolve into something awesome not only for children but also for agriculture. After reading this book, I am ready to get out there and try to pursue change in the school lunch system so that my children’s generation can go to school knowing that they will be fed right, responsibly, and without fear of being stigmatized.
Nutrition also plays an important role in student health. Proper nutrition promotes optimal growth and development of children. Researchers generally find that a higher quality diet is associated with better performance on academic test scores and that nutritional status can directly affect mental capacity among school age children (Frisvold). Teaching students about the benefits of good nutrition will help them stay healthy throughout their growing years. “My plate” is one of the easy and interactive tools they can avail to assist them in making healthier food
According to the Centers for Disease Control, “Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years,” meaning that America’s children need to start eating healthier, including healthier school lunches. The National School Lunch Act is a fairly recent addition to American society. For, as the world waged war a second time, the United States began to worry about the strength and health of the country’s soldiers. However, in the beginning, selling excess agricultural goods was more important than building a healthy, well-balanced meal for students. Unfortunately, many children coming from poorer families could not afford well-balanced school lunches, so in order to compensate, the School Lunch Program changed its focus to help these students. This program, however, decreased schools’ lunch budgets, and schools had a hard time keeping up with the amount of free meals they had to provide, so they came up with some extra ways to increase revenue. However, in a small town in Massachusetts, one chef makes a difference in the health of the school lunch students eat each day, and proves that hiring a trained chef to cook real, healthy meals can increase profit. Unfortunately, that is not the case in most schools across the nation. The quality of health of the food being served in school lunches is extremely poor and was allowed to decline even more with a new set of rule changes. However, there are some improvements currently being made to increase the quality of health of the food being served to students, including teaching them all about food and its nutritional information, both good and bad. In order for students to eat healthier lunches at school, the USDA needs to implement healthier ...
Unfortunately, in today’s society, school administrators focus heavily on standardized test scores and school rankings thus adding more pressure on students and teachers. This being said, schools have begun to focus on providing healthy foods because they help increase a person’s cognitive and critical thinking ability. It is seen that nutrition plays a great role in students’ performance on exams and physical activity due to the correlation between school provided meals and low student
As discussed throughout this paper there has been controversy about Michelle Obama’s school lunch guidelines. The reader has heard multiple arguments developed from this topic from each viewpoint expressed in this dispute. Now it is up to them to take a side.This paper is about Michelle Obama’s school lunch guidelines and how they are affecting schools and students across the nation. To help reduce the number of overweight children in America, Michelle Obama made lunch regulations schools had to follow and sparked a widespread conflict.
As living organisms, food is one of the resources that is essential to live and for the body to function normally. I believe every country around the world is faced with a nutritional issue due to economic, foods and environment because I have experience with health and nutrition issue in both developing and developed societies. During this semester, I plan to do research on the advantage and disadvantage of MNE (Mandatory Nutrition Education) and how disease related to obesity effect children and adult’s lives as well as concerning about mine, my families and society’s health and want to live a long life in this wonderful world. I interested in this topic because
Tanaka, N., & Miyoshi, M. (2012). School lunch program for health promotion among children in Japan. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 21(1), 155–158.
Low-cost meals are not worth the price of the medical bills that are promised to come and it is still very possible for schools to distribute nutritional lunches for an affordable price. It is necessary for legislation to make the change. Furthermore, it is ridiculous that emotional disorder numbers among adolescents have skyrocketed due to the lack body image, which is highly influenced by the way the eat. Therefore, it should be encouraged for schools to improve their meals, but that is only going to be achieved if a series are strict laws are placed, limiting calorie, sugar, fat, carbohydrate, pesticide, and other chemical intake. Lastly, Americans have always focused on exams and performance in a classroom environment, but they ignore the fact that what students eat, highly influence their performance. Ergo, increased meal funds would only benefit different school systems, through increased academic accomplishment rates. Although it is a grueling process to pass new regulations, it is vital for all students that school meals be improved in order to protect their physical and mental
With the implementation of the “Healthy Kids Hunger-Free Act” schools are not serving as many lunches and participation is decreasing. According to the Government Accountability Office (GOA), “Nationwide, student participation declined by 1.2 million students(or 3.7 percent) from school year 2010-2011 through school year 2012-2013, after having increased steadily for many years”(sec. 1). The school lunches became more distasteful and bland; the combinations of foods did not make sense, and the portion sizes decreased significantly. In order to support the cafeteria
The lack of health standards for lunches and other foods in schools are a leading cause of obesity in children. According to studies, children who eat school lunches consume forty more calories each day compared to those who bring their own lunches (Schanzenbach 703). Elizabeth Jackson, a medical doctor at the University of Michigan Health System, reported that children who eat school lunches are over two times more likely to eat fattier foods and more sugary drinks (“Children”). In the past decades, the government has attempted to develop effective lunch programs that limit the intake of unhealthy foods that children eat. The 1995 policy, “School Meals Initiative for Healthy Children,” required school lunches to meet one-third of the recommended number of calories, protein, and certain vitamins and minerals (Schanzenbach 686). Although this policy has been put into place, the government has not enforced it well enough. According to a recent study, only six percent of U.S. schoo...
In other words, the food is not delicious and there are not many choices. Also, when children don’t get proper nutrition, they have trouble focusing on school. Most students do not buy lunch because they feel it is unappealing and do not like the food served. Many students go to other kids and ask for food. In addition, many students do not eat breakfast, so they rely on lunch to fuel them for the day.
The United States Department of Agriculture, (USDA), prioritizes school breakfast (Coles, 2000). The School Breakfast Program was just introduced in 1966. When introduced, the program was a temporary measure through the Child Nutrition Act of 1966. The basis for the implementation of this program was to accommodate children in areas where they had long bus rides to school and in areas where many mothers were in the work force.
On some days, teachers would pile us with homework and also as the school examinations were around the corner, we had to ensure we used our time wisely. Thus to avoid wasting time by preparing food from scratch I usually go to the hawker centre that is a stone's throw away from my hair. This one advantage of having hawker centres in singapore. As hawker centres are ubiquitous in singapore, under most public housing blocks or next to it , we can find a food court. Thus, this allows me to save on travelling to hawker centres and thus can use the time that I had save to concentrate on my studies. However, I have also learnt that regular consumption of food from hawker centres unhealthy, at time I would take the extra effort to cook for myself. Thus, I treasure the hawker centres in Singapore as they had help throughout the stressful period of examinations by helping me to save time and by helping me to release my stress through devouring these delectable
The ‘Hungry for Success’ (2002) initiative was implemented in all schools in Scotland in 2003, with an aim to improve school meals. As children “become more independent they are increasingly responsible for making their own food choices as parental influence decreases” (Wardley et al., 1997:75). The objective of the initiative was to ensure that all pupils were encouraged to make informed decisions when eating within school. Healthier food choices were readily available to all children, therefore allowing children to choose healthier options. School menus were reviewed in order to provide better nutrition and children were offered salads and free fruit was available to all infants (Scottish Executive, 2005). In addition to this initiative, ‘Towards a Healthy Weight Action Plan for Scotland’ (2006) proposed to develop programmes to support healthy eating in the primary school and in addition, introduced a ban on junk food in schools and in lunch boxes. This ensured that all pupils did not have the opportunity to make poor choices and instead, pupils opted for healthier foods (NHS,
Kundu A. 2006. Food security system in India: analysing a few conceptual issues in the contemporary policy debate. New Delphi: World Food Programme.