Sonia Gandhi seeks resumption of midday meals in schools

New Delhi: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday asked the government to resume midday meals immediately as students have started attending physical classes after the closure of schools for two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking in Lok Sabha about providing nutritious meals to children, pregnant women and mothers, she sought the resumption of the scheme under which children get hot cooked meals. She added it will also help attract those who dropped out of schools during the pandemic.

“Children have been the worst affected due to the pandemic. Schools were the first to be closed and the last to be opened. When schools were closed, midday meals stopped too. People were given ration under National Food Security Act and as per a Supreme Court order. But there was no alternate for dry ration and cooked meals for children. True that families of children had to face a major crisis to earn a living. Such a crisis was never faced before… As children are returning to schools, they need even better nutrition,” said Gandhi. “I request the government to strengthen its Integrated Child Development Services and re-start the mid-day meal scheme.”

The Centre on September 29 approved the PM Poshan Scheme for five years to ensure holistic nutrition for students of over 1.1 million government and government-aided schools. The scheme will subsume the mid-day meal programme for schools.

The Centre aims to eradicate malnutrition among children by 2022 and reduce the level of stunting, undernutrition, anaemia etc.