FOREWORD
 

Children have been the most cherished possession in the Indian society from time immemorial. However, it is unfortunate that most of them are victims of malnutrition,' which affects not only their health, but also their attendance and performance in school.

The provision of school lunch in the primary school is a right step to prevent malnutrition. Providing a good, clean, healthy and balanced lunch to the needy school going children is the objective of the Tamil Nadu School Lunch Programme. The state and central governments are spending annually many crores of rupees for providing lunch in the primary schools. It is important that teachers and administrators concerned with the planning, operating and evaluating the school lunch programme are well informed about the basic essentials of the programme. Toward this end, researches have been undertaken in Sri Avinashilingam Home Science College for Women, Coimbatore. The findings of the studies were published in the year 1966, by the Government of India as a book, 'School Lunch Programme: Organisation and Outcomes'. The book explained in detail the objectives, steps in implementation and evaluation of the programme in primary schools.

In every state, the policies are continuously changing. New dimensions are fast growing, and research findings are also mounting up. This publication carries the new findings and changes in the school lunch programme.

The spiralling rise of prices of all commodities poses many difficulties in continuing the school lunch scheme and in managing the feeding programmes within the monetary limitations. Teachers need help to use money saving methods and new, indigenous and even raw foods that are received from different sources and organisations for the school meal. They need to be educated on the use of alternative foods in the place of the CARE commodities, if and when they are not available. In the light of the knowledge gained in these areas during the past 14 years, at the request of the Ministry of Education, Government of India, this new publication has been prepared. The information given in this book

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is based on the work done by nutrition scientists of Sri Avinashi- lingam. Home Science College under the guidance of Dr. Rajammal P. Devadas in the campus primary school, as well as in several primary schools in Coimbatore District. It is hoped that the fresh knowledge carried by this book on school lunch programme will reach all those who deal with this important nutrition intervention effort.

Our thanks are due to Dr. Rajammal P. Devadas for her leadership, original contribution and work on this subject and to her colleagues Smt. S. Premakumari and Dr. Usha Chandrasekhar for this revision. The Ministry of Education and Social Welfare, Government of India deserves out appreciation for sponsoring this publication.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA MISSION T. S. AVINASHILINGAM

VIDYALAYA, COIMBATORE-641 020