Moreover, it is a well-known fact that a nutritious and hearty mid-day meal can reduce dropout rates in schools along with checking malnutrition among children. Given that India is home to 48.2 million malnourished children with stunted growth, the careless disregard towards the menu of mid-day meals reveals the establishment’s apathy. The purpose of the mid-day meal scheme is to provide nutritious food to students and address the problem of malnutrition. The human resource development ministry or any private agency contracted by it to serve mid-day meals should not have a say in what the children will eat. Sukhamay Biswas,CalcuttaSir — Akshay Patra has been praised for the nutritious, clean and hygienic food that it serves to children as part of mid-day meals.

Source: The Telegraph December 22, 2018 04:52 UTC