The Maharashtra government on Tuesday, June 11, issued an order to establish a 'three-course menu' for children in Classes 1 through 8 in schools covered under the 'Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman scheme'. The goal is to provide wholesome foods to the students with nutritional value in midday meals in schools.
Starting in the 2024–2025 academic year, the state will introduce 15 new dishes in a three-course meal. These include 12 main course dishes, sprouts, and sweet dishes like rice kheer and Raagi malt.
Under the scheme, 450 calories and 12 grammes of protein will be provided to primary-class students from 1st to 5th grade. 700 calories and 20 grammes of protein will be provided to students in upper primary classes from 6th to 8th grade.
One of these 12 dishes will be fixed for each day as the main meal: vegetable pulao, masala bhaat, matar pulao, mungdal khichdi, chavli khichdi, chana pulao, soyabean pulao, masuri pulao, egg pulao, mod and matki usal, god khichdi, and moong-shevga-dal with rice. This will make sure that no meal is repeated for at least two weeks.
Additionally, one sprout will be provided every five days, and a sweet dish will be provided four days a week. Furthermore, Raagi malt will be provided once a week as a sweet dish.
On the remaining day, students will be served eggs. Students who do not eat eggs will be given bananas or local fruit within the price limit fixed by the government. On this day, rice pudding, raagi malt will not be given.
The midday food scheme covers educational institutions like Mahatma Phule education guarantee schools, private-aided schools, and schools administered by rural and urban local bodies. The scheme provided food to over 60 lakh students.
The current meal menu consists of four dishes. These are offered twice a week. Earlier, the Centre had ordered state governments to include millet and regional foods in school meals. The Maharashtra government then formed a committee to suggest a new menu with nutritional values.
Maharashtra is the first state to implement this new menu as part of the PM POSHAN initiative. The local government will determine the menu's scheduling. The BMC education department in Mumbai will decide the meal plan that schools must follow.
In November, the state mandated that meals served to students must include eggs. However, after criticism from parents, the state revoked the order. Now, egg pulao is back on the menu. But the condition is that an alternative option of veg pulao will be served for those who don't eat eggs.
The state released information on each dish in the 'three-course menu'. This includes measurements, suggested seasonings, and instructions for preparing each one correctly.
This will help reduce the amount of rice and pulse waste. The committee's original proposal called for a comprehensive meal that could be made using straightforward methods. However, it was later revised because it called for a wide range of raw ingredients.
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