E-Paper
State to conduct social audit of school nutrition scheme
According to the government resolution passed on Wednesday, 5% of schools in the state, totalling 4,325 schools, will be covered under the audit.
Pune: Following the Centre’s guidelines, the Maharashtra school education department will conduct a social audit of the Prime Minister Poshan Shakti Nirman Yojana (school nutrition scheme) implemented for Classes 1 to 8 students.
According to the government resolution passed on Wednesday, 5% of schools in the state, totalling 4,325 schools, will be covered under the audit.
The programme, in operation in Maharashtra since August 15, 1995, benefitted nearly 89 lakh students in the academic year 2025–26.
The state has sanctioned ₹2.42 crore for the audit to be carried out by the Maharashtra State Social Audit and Transparency Society. Schools will be required to submit documents at least 25 days before the commencement of the audit, with failure inviting action under prevailing rules.
The audit will assess multiple aspects of the scheme, including regularity in serving meals to students, quality, quantity and nutritional value of food, condition of kitchens and food grain storage facilities, availability of utensils, verification of cooking costs and fund utilisation, honorarium paid to cooks and helpers, availability of drinking water, toilets and soap for handwashing, maintenance of meal inspection registers, awareness about the scheme, health records of students and kitchen staff, verification of enrolment and financial records
Disciplinary action will be initiated against individuals or schools if irregularities are found.
