Gujarat: Mid-day meals resume in govt, aided schools after gap of two years

The state government has sanctioned Rs 1,071 crore for the PM POSHAN Scheme for 2022-23
Image for representational purpose only | Pic: Express
Image for representational purpose only | Pic: Express

The Gujarat government, on Tuesday, March 29, restarted the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in government and aided schools across nine urban centres, two years after it was stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an official told PTI.

"Students in 29,464 primary schools will get mid-day meals from March 31 under the scheme, which was suspended on March 16, 2020, due to the pandemic," he said. The scheme will cover 7 lakh students in over 2,800 schools.

State Education Minister Jitu Vaghani relaunched the scheme from a government school in Gandhinagar, according to a government statement. The state government has sanctioned Rs 1,071 crore for the PM POSHAN Scheme for 2022-23, the minister said.

"When schools were shut amid the pandemic, the state government had paid money to beneficiary families for purchasing food grains and towards cooking costs," he said. The government had paid for more than 2.61 lakh tonnes of food grains and Rs 1,350 crore towards cooking costs under the food security allowance, the minister said.

Vaghani made an appeal to the people to provide food to school students on special occasions, such as birthdays and weddings. The minister further said that the state government will construct 10,000 classrooms out of the required number of 19,000 in schools across the state.

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