Students of Governmento school can now get milk instead of fruits in mid day meals. The State School Education and Literacy department issued a notification on Monday, suggesting schools to replace season fruits with milk, if needed. MDM director, Shailesh Kumar Chaurasia said, “Recently, we are giving eggs for non-vegetarian students and seasonal fruits for vegetarian students as additional nutrition in MDM.
However, there are places where season fruits are not available, thus the vegetarian students do not get anything.” Chaurasia said that the notification is not a directive but an advisory or a suggestion for the schools where in they are given an option to choose between fruits and milk. “Talking to various stakeholders including nutritionists, we were informed that any fruit cannot be a replacement for eggs. Milk is the nearest equivalent for eggs. So we have asked the schools that if they cannot provide the best quality food for any reason, they can instead give a glass of milk to students," he said. At present, around 45 lakh students in 35, 853 primary and middle government schools of the state are given egg or seasonal fruit twice a week as additional nutrition, the budget for each egg or fruit being Rs 6 per head. The cost, which was earlier Rs 4 per piece, was revised two weeks ago in a state cabinet meeting. The responsibility of arranging the fruits or egg is on the school management committee, who will also be responsible for procuring milk.
Deputy Director at Primary Education Directorate, Mukesh Sinha said that getting milk will not be an issue at villages as almost every household has cows.
“While the eggs are available easily, good seasonal fruits are not found in many interior villages. In such situation, the school administration can tie up with local milkmen to provide milk for the vegetarian students,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chaurasia informed that some students of schools in selected districts are being provided flavoured milk. "However, the cost for this is not borne by the education department or MDM funds but is instead borne by the dairy development directorate," he said.