About: Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) Scheme is for providing one hot cooked meal in Government and Government-aided schools from 2021-22 to 2025-26, earlier known as ‘National Programme for Mid-Day Meal in Schools’ popularly known as Mid-Day Meal Scheme. This is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme which covers all school children studying in Classes I-VIII in Government, Government-Aided Schools.
Objectives:
1. Improving the nutritional status of eligible children in Government and Government aided schools.
2. Encouraging poor children, belonging to disadvantaged sections, to attend school more regularly and help them concentrate on classroom activities.
3. Providing nutritional support to children of elementary stage in drought-affected and disaster affected areas during summer vacation.
Salient features:
-
- The concept of Tithi Bhojan will be encouraged extensively. Tithi Bhojan is a community participation programme in which people provide special food to children on special occasions/festivals. Nutrition Gardens in schools to give children first-hand experience with nature and gardening. The harvest of these gardens is used in the scheme providing additional micro nutrients. School Nutrition Gardens have already been developed in more than 3 lakh schools.
- Social Audit of the scheme is made mandatory in all the districts.
- Special provision is made for providing supplementary nutrition items to children in aspirational districts and districts with high prevalence of Anemia.
