Supreme Court's Mid-Day Meal Order Helped Reduce School Dropout Ratio

A landmark order passed by the Supreme Court of India in 2001 has reshaped the country's primary education system over the last two decades. According to a report by TV9 Gujarati, this order came during the hearing of a case related to famine and hunger filed by the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). The Court directed all states to provide cooked mid-day meals to every child in government and government-aided primary schools within a period of six months.

What began as a measure to provide relief from hunger has, over time, become one of India's largest and longest-running experiments in retaining children in the classroom. This idea was not entirely new, as a version of this scheme had been in place in the state of Tamil Nadu since the early 1960s. Research on Tamil Nadu's early experiences revealed that the scheme led to a measurable positive change in the number of children enrolling in school. Its impact was particularly evident in the education of girls and children from poor families.

For impoverished families, the assurance of a guaranteed meal became a decisive factor in whether to send a child to school or keep them at home to help with chores. By adopting this successful experiment from Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court implemented it across the country in 2001. Since then, educational research and studies published in prestigious economics journals confirm that the scheme has significantly increased enrollment in primary schools. Children who were most likely to drop out or fail to enroll have benefited the most from this scheme. It has proven to be a blessing, especially for families where the cost of feeding a child at home competed directly with the cost of sending them to school.

Currently, the scheme has been renamed 'PM POSHAN'. Recent data from the UDISE+ school census shows that approximately 10.32 crore children are provided meals under this scheme across about 10.9 lakh institutions. The Central Government has allocated a total budget of ₹54,061 crore for this scheme for the period from 2021 to 2026. Regarding the daily cost of preparing meals, ₹6.78 has been fixed for primary school students and ₹10.17 for upper primary school students. Given its reach of millions of children, it is one of the largest school meal programmes in the world.

However, amidst these impressive figures, there is a significant gap. The scheme currently covers only 41.8 per cent of the total enrolled students in India. Approximately 9.58 crore children studying in unaided recognised private schools, who constitute 39 per cent of the total student population, are completely deprived of this benefit. Since the scheme is only for government and government-aided schools, children from poor families studying in low-fee private schools—whose economic condition is similar to that of government school children—do not receive this facility.

The impact of this meal in the classroom is profound. A child who has not had a proper breakfast in the morning cannot concentrate on studies until late morning. No matter how excellent the teaching methods or textbooks may be, no curriculum can remove the problem of hunger. A reliable mid-day meal provided every day removes this obstacle. Additionally, research has observed a significant social impact, where children from different castes and communities sit and eat together, which enhances social harmony.