Mid-Day Meal scheme to be now called PM POSHAN to cover students of pre- primary classes also
New Delhi Sep 29 PTI The national Mid-Day Meal Scheme in government and aided schools popularly will now be known as PM POSHAN Scheme and will also cover students of balvatikas or pre primary classes the government announced WednesdayEncouraging Tithi Bhojan to allow people from community to provide special food to children on occasions and festivals using harvest from school nutrition gardens for cooking mid-day meals cooking competitions to promote ethnic cuisine and innovative menus and involvement of Farmers Producer Organizations FPO and Women Self Help Groups in implementation of the scheme are among the features which have been added in the new schemeThe Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the roll-out of the PM POSHAN in Schools scheme that will provide hot cooked meal to students of elementary classes in government and government-aided schools across the country The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs CCEA chaired by Prime Minister Narendra ModiToday the CCEA cleared the PM POSHAN POshan SHakti Nirman Scheme for providing one hot cooked meal in government and government-aided schools from 2021-22 to 2025-26 earlier known as National Programme for Mid-Day Meal in Schools popularly known as Mid-Day Meal Scheme This is a centrally-sponsored scheme which covers all school children studying in classes 1 to 8 in government government-aided schools Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told reportersUnder the new scheme mid-day meals have been extended to students studying in pre-primary or Balvatikas in addition to children studying in class 1 to 8 in government and government-aided schools across India This will benefit about 1180 crore children studying in 1120 lakh schools he addedThe CCEA has approved the continuation of the national scheme of PM POSHAN in schools for the five-year period 2021-22 to 2025-26 with the financial outlay of 2 5406173 crores from the central government and 3173317 crore from state governments and union territory administrationsCentral government will also bear additional cost of about Rs 45000 crore on food grains Therefore the total scheme budget will amount to 13079490 crore The concept of Tithi Bhojan will be encouraged extensively Tithi Bhojan is a community participation programme in which people provide special food to children on special occasions and festivalsGovernment is also promoting development of School Nutrition Gardens in schools to give children first-hand experience with nature and gardening The harvest of these gardens is used in the scheme providing additional micro nutrients School Nutrition Gardens have already been developed in more than 3 lakh schools he saidWhile social audit of the scheme is made mandatory in all the districts special provision is made for providing supplementary nutrition items to children in aspirational districts and districts with high prevalence of AnemiaCooking competitions will be encouraged at all levels right from village level to national level to promote ethnic cuisine and innovative menus based on locally available ingredients and vegetables Involvement of Farmers Producer Organizations FPO and Women Self Help Groups in implementation of the scheme will be encouraged Use of locally grown traditional food items for a fillip to local economic growth will be encouraged Pradhan saidField visits for progress monitoring and inspections will be facilitated for students of eminent universities and institutions and also trainee teachers of Regional Institutes of Educations RIE and District Institutes of Education and Training DIET PTI GJS PK SKC ZMN
New Delhi Sep 29 PTI The national Mid-Day Meal Scheme in government and aided schools popularly will now be known as PM POSHAN Scheme and will also cover students of balvatikas or pre primary classes the government announced WednesdayEncouraging Tithi Bhojan to allow people from community to provide special food to children on occasions and festivals using harvest from school nutrition gardens for cooking mid-day meals cooking competitions to promote ethnic cuisine and innovative menus and involvement of Farmers Producer Organizations FPO and Women Self Help Groups in implementation of the scheme are among the features which have been added in the new schemeThe Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the roll-out of the PM POSHAN in Schools scheme that will provide hot cooked meal to students of elementary classes in government and government-aided schools across the country The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs CCEA chaired by Prime Minister Narendra ModiToday the CCEA cleared the PM POSHAN POshan SHakti Nirman Scheme for providing one hot cooked meal in government and government-aided schools from 2021-22 to 2025-26 earlier known as National Programme for Mid-Day Meal in Schools popularly known as Mid-Day Meal Scheme This is a centrally-sponsored scheme which covers all school children studying in classes 1 to 8 in government government-aided schools Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told reportersUnder the new scheme mid-day meals have been extended to students studying in pre-primary or Balvatikas in addition to children studying in class 1 to 8 in government and government-aided schools across India This will benefit about 1180 crore children studying in 1120 lakh schools he addedThe CCEA has approved the continuation of the national scheme of PM POSHAN in schools for the five-year period 2021-22 to 2025-26 with the financial outlay of 2 5406173 crores from the central government and 3173317 crore from state governments and union territory administrationsCentral government will also bear additional cost of about Rs 45000 crore on food grains Therefore the total scheme budget will amount to 13079490 crore The concept of Tithi Bhojan will be encouraged extensively Tithi Bhojan is a community participation programme in which people provide special food to children on special occasions and festivalsGovernment is also promoting development of School Nutrition Gardens in schools to give children first-hand experience with nature and gardening The harvest of these gardens is used in the scheme providing additional micro nutrients School Nutrition Gardens have already been developed in more than 3 lakh schools he saidWhile social audit of the scheme is made mandatory in all the districts special provision is made for providing supplementary nutrition items to children in aspirational districts and districts with high prevalence of AnemiaCooking competitions will be encouraged at all levels right from village level to national level to promote ethnic cuisine and innovative menus based on locally available ingredients and vegetables Involvement of Farmers Producer Organizations FPO and Women Self Help Groups in implementation of the scheme will be encouraged Use of locally grown traditional food items for a fillip to local economic growth will be encouraged Pradhan saidField visits for progress monitoring and inspections will be facilitated for students of eminent universities and institutions and also trainee teachers of Regional Institutes of Educations RIE and District Institutes of Education and Training DIET PTI GJS PK SKC ZMN
