Bhubaneswar: The Odisha school and mass education minister, Badri Narayan Patra, Monday said that the Centre should enhance its contribution to Mid Day Meal(MDM) scheme so as to make it more nutritious.
Pointing out that currently Rs 4.58 is being spend for one meal, he said the food is grossly inadequate in term of nutritional quality. Stating that the Centre and state are now sharing the scheme on 60:40 ratio, he said that the Central share need to be enhanced.
He also said that the honorarium of the cook-cum-helpers engaged in the MDM be enhanced.
Patra was speaking after inaugurating a national workshop here attended by directs and delegates of 18 states.
He also suggested that the MDM scheme be extended to private schools where many students from poor families are studying.
Over 48 lakh students of 53,000 government run schools in the state are covered in MDM schemes. Presently, children studying in classes 1 to 8 are getting the benefit of the scheme.
Patra said that the students of class 9 and 10 should also be covered in the scheme .
The MDM director in the union Human Resources Development ministry, Vijaya Bhaskar Guralla, also participated in the workshop.
The delegates from Andaman and Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Telengana, Tripura, Sikkim, Lakshadweep, Odisha, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, working in the field of nutrition and mid-day meal implementation, also attended the workshop.
