|
|
Table-1: Number of Schools Covered under MDM and Enrolment Achieved
|
Sl. No. |
Year |
Number of schools covered under MDM |
Projected enrolment |
|
1.
|
2002-03 |
8.10 lakh |
10.28 crore |
|
2.
|
2003-04 |
8.80 lakh |
10.57 crore |
|
3.
|
2004-05 |
9.04 lakh |
10.89 crore |
|
4.
|
2005-06 |
9.54 lakh |
11.94 crore |
|
5.
|
2006-07 |
9.91 lakh |
11.98 crore |
Apathy towards the Marginalised Communities
One of the
scheme objectives (2004 and 2006) was to encourage poor children
belonging to disadvantaged sections to attend school regularly and
help them concentrate on classroom activities. The Ministry,
however, did not define as to what was meant by poor and
disadvantaged sections. Neither were such sections actually
identified nor any special action plan focussing on them drawn up by
the Ministry. On this being pointed out, the Ministry stated that
the MDM programme covers all children studying in class I–V in
Government, Government-aided, local body schools and EGS/AIE centres,
irrespective of socio-economic background. Thus, the Ministry
included this provision of special focus on disadvantaged section in
the scheme without any specific intent or objectives, as it did not
follow it up with any special action plan and inputs for special
attention to the disadvantaged. The state governments also did not
have a system in place for identification and coverage of poor and
disadvantaged.
In the name of
cooked and nutritious food, what is given to children is not fit for
human consumption. The CAG found the distributed food adulterated
and unfit for human consumption in 22 percent schools in Haryana, 89
percent schools in Punjab and 58 percent schools in Orissa. See
Table-2
Table-2:
Food Distributed under Mid Day Meal was Unfit for Human Consumption
|
Name of state
|
No.
of schools visited/samples collected
|
Conformed
to specification |
Adulterated
and not fit for human consumption
|
Adulterated and Food Unfit for Human Consumption as % of
All Samples Collected |
|
Haryana
|
18
|
14
|
04
|
22.2 |
|
Punjab
|
09
|
01
|
08
|
88.9 |
|
Orissa
|
12
|
05
|
07
|
58.3 |
|
Tripura
|
08
|
08
|
Nil
|
0.0 |
Summary
of Recommendations
of CAG for Better Implementation of the Mid Day Meal Scheme
-
The
Ministry should set realistic and specific objectives and
goals for the scheme. It should prescribe outcome
indicators to measure and report on improvements in education,
health and nutrition. It should use/analyse the data received
from the states for such an evaluation.
-
The
Ministry should vigorously coordinate with the state
governments to ensure that the data on enrolment,
attendance and retention flows from the school level to state
level in a transparent manner with records of compilation
maintained at each level i.e. school level, district level and
state level. Periodical checks should be arranged to crosscheck
the data for accuracy. It should provide for analysis of feed
back received and take remedial action, when required.
-
The
analysis of outcome indicators and reporting should be brought
into an online periodic MIS as far as possible, so
that the evaluation flows easily from the data available in real
time.
-
The
Ministry needs to establish a system to ascertain the
improvement in nutritional levels of the children. The
Ministry should coordinate with the state governments and ensure
maintenance of health cards in all the schools to monitor the
health status of the children.
-
The
Ministry/States should ensure that adequate infrastructure
viz. provisions of kitchen sheds, kitchen devices and facility
of drinking water are available in all schools. It
should put in place a system to ensure that the teaching time of
the teachers is not lost in connection with the midday meal and
there is no adverse impact of the scheme on the primary
objective of education.
-
The
Ministry/State governments need to strengthen the internal
controls as well as the inspection and monitoring mechanism at
all levels. Accountability for maintenance of records at
various levels should be prescribed and monitored.
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