ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAMME IN TAMIL NADU
A good proportion of school children in Tamil Nadu, as elsewhere in India come from the less privileged sections of the population mostly from the rural areas. These children are generally those who have just managed to survive the ravages of malnutrition in early childhood. Millions still carry scars of nutritional deprivation. They manifest different types of nutritional deficiency diseases, growth retardation and a general lack of concentration in studies and other activities. Their motivation to study is nil or reduced markedly as they are worried about the next meal. These children often dropout as incompetent in the schools.
As an immediate remedial measure to alleviate this situation school lunch programme was first introduced in the state of Tamil Nadu during the year 1925-26 by the Corporation of Madras. Today the school lunch programme in the state of Tamil Nadu is one of the Major nutrition intervention programmes.
The Madras corporation's programme in 1925 aimed to solve the two problems (1) children attending the corporation elementary schools from families of poor socio-economic status were suffering from malnutrition and avitaminosis and (2) the poor socio-economic conditions of the families forced the children to work without attending school. The scheme thus initiated was intended for children of families with an income of below Rs. 50 per month as an incentive to improve attendance in the schools.
Subsequently, philanthropists and voluntary organisations were urged to start free school lunch centres in the villages and towns all over Tamil Nadu. The school lunch programme launched in July 1956, as a 'people's movement' for organised charity as part of the 'School Improvement Efforts' which comprised : school uniform, school amenities and school lunch. Impressed by the response given by the public, the Government of Tamil Nadu (erstwhile Madras) took up the school lunch programme in November 1957 and issued precise and detailed rules for the working of the school lunch programme. This has been revised several times (Appendix A). It aimed at securing the cooperation and active participation of the local public and parents.
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According to the regulations, the school lunch programme must be run in the elementary schools by the voluntary contribution of the public at the rate of four paise per meal together with the government aid which is equal to the amount actually spent in excess of the public contribution subject to a ceiling of six paise per meal per pupil. Appreciating the progress in Tamil Nadu, the central government extended an assistance upto 50 per cent of the cost. When the school lunch programme was started first in the Madras Corporation, a stereo type meal pattern containing "12 ounces" of cooked rice and 8 ounces of sambar with one vegetable was served.
The menu was changed in1959 for the corporation schools as follows:-
Mondays and Fridays : Cooked rice, 12 ounces and Sambar
eight ounces.
Tuesdays : Curds rice 16 ounces and Kootu two
ounces.
Wednesdays : Tamarind rice 15 ounces and Sambar
eight ounces.
Thursdays : Kadambam rice 12 ounces and Sambar
eight ounces.
These meals are prepared in various centres and transported to different schools through vehicles.
In the year 1961 the Government of Madras started receiving the CARE food commodities for feeding 5,00,000 children through the school lunch programme. The CARE programme in Madras was coordinated with the State Department of Education which appointed a special officer to work with CARE Madras administration. The commodities chosen were milk powder, vegetable oil, corn meal, bulgar wheat and a special type of rice. Currently CARE provides a. daily supplement of 300 calories and 12 g protein to school children through a supply of 80g bulgar wheat and 20g of Balahar or 100g of Balahar per child for 100 days and 4 to 8g of oil per child for 200 days in a year.
On 31st December, 1962, the then Government of Madras modified the rules so that one third of the number of pupils on rolls of I to VIII, as against classes I to V, in every school could participate in the school meal.
The number of children participating in the school lunch pro- gramme had increased to 1.86 million in 32,000 schools in the year 1978. This had further increased in 1980-81 to about 2.03 million children in standards I to VIII of Elementary Schools (33,306) including 1.65 lakhs fed in schools run by the Adi Dravidar Welfare and Backward Classes Departments. Out of this four lakhs are in
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Central kitchen areas and the rest in non-central kitchen areas. Because of the spiralling rise in the price of all commodities the Government of Tamil Nadu came forward to increase the cost of school lunch from 10 paise to 15 paise in the year 1975 and continued its grant of 60 per cent cost. Hence the Government at present provides 10 paise per meal per child to meet the cost of school lunch. The provision for the Midday Meals scheme in the budget for 1981-82 is Rs. 5.55 crores.
The concept of this growing school lunch programme is laudable. More attention needs to be paid to make implementation aspect a more purposeful one so that the real educational impact of the programme would become obvious on a lasting basis.
References: 1. Cooperatives for American Relief Everywhere. News from CARE. Friends Colony, New Delhi, 1963. 14, p. 1.
2. Corporation of Madras. Midday Meals Scheme, Madras, 1960. p.1,
3. Education Department, Progress of Education in Tamil Nadu, Government of Tamil Nadu, 1981, pp.6-8.
4. Personal Communication, Ministry of Community Development and Cooperation, 1978.
5. Sundaravadivelu, N. D. Harnessing community effort for education, Report by the Director of Public Instruction, Madras, 1962. P. 1.
6. Sundaravadivelu, N.D. Importance of and need for Feeding programmes. Nutritional feeding in the fourth plan. Ed. by T.S. Avinashilingam, Government of Tamil Nadu. 1970, pp.40-45.