From plates to tiffin boxes: Meghalaya schools lead the way in PM POSHAN meal service

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJune 20, 2024

The PM POSHAN Scheme, erstwhile known as the Mid-Day Meal Scheme is a school meal programme, centrally sponsored by the Government of India, designed to better the nutritional status of school-going children nationwide. Although this scheme provides utensils and all requirements for providing and serving one cooked meal per child per day, school students have the flexibility to carry empty tiffin boxes from home instead of being served on plates provided by the schools.

The best practice of using tiffin boxes, adopted in most schools in the state of Meghalaya, plays a vital role in the serving of mid-day meals under the PM POSHAN Scheme. Their usage has had a significant impact in the implementation of the scheme. Children entitled to PM POSHAN meals may simply bring an empty tiffin box from home and hand them over to the Cook-Cum-Helpers in the morning and normally proceed on with their daily classes. The Cook-cum Helpers then pack the hot cooked meal into these tiffin boxes after preparation. After packing all the meals for students, as per norms provided by the Govt. of India, i.e., 100 grams of food grains for Primary and 150 grams of food grains for Upper Primary per child per day along with vegetables, pulses and other food items as per availability; their work is done for the day and they can leave for other task.

During recess, the students receive their packed tiffin boxes back and enjoy their meals. After which, the empty boxes are kept with them and carried home after school. This method reduces the amount of water needed to wash plates, improves the hygiene and shortens the time needed to serve meals. This method also ensures that students receive the meals as per the food norms provided by the Government of India and also allows uniform serving of meals to the school-children. DSEL encourages school students and stakeholders across the state to take this innovative practice as an opportunity to increase efficiency in the implementation of the scheme. Contributed