Education: The Ministry of Education said that a severe fund crunch in the Department of School Education is likely to delay the expansion of the midday meal scheme to include provisions for breakfast in schools envisaged by the National Education Policy (NEP). The statement was made in response to a recommendation by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education asking government schools to start providing free breakfast in the coming academic year.
Free breakfasts would involve an additional budget of INR 4,000 crore, but the Department of School Education has seen a budget cut of almost INR 5,000 crore this year. “We were hoping to start providing breakfast from April when the new session starts, but we estimate it will cost us another INR 4,000 crore. There have been major budget cuts, so the plan has been delayed by several months now,” said a senior official.
The Department of School Education has seen an eight percent cut in allocation from the FY 2020-21 budget estimate of INR 59,845 crore to INR 54,873 crore for the coming year. While the department’s revised estimates for last year were lower as schools were shut due to COVID-19 for more than nine months, the midday meal scheme was one of the few to see a rise in expenditure during the pandemic.
“Students were given dry ration or direct benefit transfer (cash allowance) in lieu of midday meals. Plus, the scheme remained open through the summer holidays as well. So our expenditure was higher than usual,” said the official.
The central government’s allocation for the meals had a budget estimate of INR 11,000 crore in FY 2020-21, and a revised estimate of INR 12,900 crore. However, the FY 2020-21 budget estimate was slashed back down to INR 11,500 crore, which is insufficient to provide breakfast, let alone expand coverage to include pre-primary students.
In its submission to the parliamentary panel, the department said it had proposed two new components to the midday meal scheme during FY 2021-22, including an expansion of coverage from the current Grade 1-8 students to include pre-primary students and provision of breakfast. Depending on the economic situation and the Centre’s revenue position, department officials said that these proposals could be re-examined later in the year. The states’ finances may also come into play, as the Centre bears the entire cost of foodgrains, but shares the cost of food preparation and distribution with states.
Read this article on the co-relation between midday meals and learning outcomes.