Gorakhpur, Apr 23 (ANI): Midday meal programme has been successful in Uttar Pradesh in getting the rural young boys and girls to attend schools and study.

This scheme was mooted by the Central Government with an aim to increase the enhance enrolment of children in the schools, improve their attendance and also the nutrition levels amongst children.

For instance, at Tikonia Primary School in Gorakhpur, the scheme has really helped to achieve all the three objectives.

The number of students has gone up to 300 from around 200 after the programme was launched.

“In rural areas, parents did not send their children to school as they did not think academic education to be important. But after the midday meal programme started, they started sending their children. Even if they send them for the meal, we can also make them study. So we can serve a dual purpose, feed them and educate them,” said Vinita Rani, a teacher.

Consequently, today, the parents of many children from rural areas are very keen to educate their children as the school provides a meal on all working week days.

On their part, the children too are happy with the arrangement.

As for the hygiene, special care is taken to ensure cleanliness when the food is cooked.

“We get different dishes including rice, pulses and fried rice. I like coming to school. I study and play,” said Gayatri, a student.

Apart from the midday meals, the students are also provided with free books, uniforms and scholarships for the brightest among them.

The scheme of midday meals was introduced in July 1995 to tackle the twin problems of dropout rates in primary schools and nutrition among children coming from poor families.

The National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education, commonly known as midday meal scheme, happens to be one of the world’s largest nutritional programmes, covering more than one million schools throughout India.

Under this scheme, fresh and hot cooked meal of a minimum 300 calories and 8-12 grams of protein. By Vipul Goel (ANI)