Odisha to provide mid-day meals to govt school students of Class 9 and 10, announces CM Mohan Majhi

CM Majhi made the announcement during the centenary celebration of Ranihat high school in Cuttack town on Tuesday evening.

Published on: Feb 12, 2025, 12:57:32 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty, Bhubaneswar

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Odisha would soon provide mid day meals to around 8 lakh students studying in std 9 and 10 of government schools in the state, chief minister Mohan Majhi announced at a function in Cuttack on Tuesday.

Odisha government will provide mid-day meals to school students of Class 9 and 10, CM Mohan Majhi announced. (File/Hindustan Times)

Majhi made the announcement during the centenary celebration of Ranihat high school in Cuttack town on Tuesday evening. Officials said the state Budget for 2025-26 set to be tabled next week in the state Assembly would have Budgetary provisions for the same.

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After the BJP government came to power, there were demands to include the students of Std 9 and 10 in the scheme as many alleged that they were being discriminated.

Since its inception in July 1995 in Odisha, the Mid-Day Meal program provided cooked midday meals to primary school students in government and government-aided schools from Class I to V throughout the state.

From April 2008, students in standards 6, 7, and 8 (upper primary) started receiving mid-day meals in Odisha taking the total number of beneficiaries to 44.5 lakh in 51500 schools. In September 2021, the scheme was renamed PM-POSHAN (Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman) by the Ministry of Education.

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The program that aims to improve nutritional status and encourage school attendance, provides rice with 'Dalma' on Mondays and Thursdays, rice and Soybean curry on Tuesdays and Fridays and rice and egg curry on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The state government has now announced that 200 ml of milk enriched with Vitamin A and D would be provided in mid-day meal to increase the nutritional intake of the students.

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Data from 1995/96 to 2004-05 shows a steady decrease in dropout rates in Odisha since the MDM's introduction. A study found that over 76 % of government primary school teachers saw the Mid Day Meal Scheme helping achieve the goals of Universalization of Elementary Education.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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