20% Children in Punjab Schools Missed Out on Mid-Day Meals

Around 20% of students in government schools across Punjab missed out on free mid-day meals during the 2024-25 academic year, even as the central government has expressed grave concern about the drop in school enrollment and the coverage of the school meals programme in the state.

- Navneet Sharma

CHANDIGARH:

Mid-day meals were served to an average of 15.24 lakh children out of a total of 19.1 lakh enrolled in the pre-primary section and elementary classes (1 to 8) in government schools across the state, with 3.85 lakh students missing out on mid-day meals in schools. The number of students who missed out or skipped free school meals was higher in Bal Vatikas (pre-primary) and upper primary (classes 6 to 8) sections.

The pre-primary sections have an enrollment of 1.62 lakh, and 1.19 lakh, or say 74%, of them were served mid-day meals on an average daily, whereas the coverage was 77% at the upper primary level with 5.24 lakh of the 6.83 lakh students availed school meals, according to figures provided in the minutes of a meeting held by the Union ministry of education (MoE) on April 17 to consider the annual plan and budget of Punjab for 2025-26 under the centrally-sponsored Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM-POSHAN) Scheme.

In primary classes (1 to 5), 83% children—8.82 lakh out of a total of 10.65 lakh—availed free meals during this period. The PAB meeting was attended by senior officials of the school education department of Punjab.