Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has increased the allowance for mid-day meals in schools. Henceforth, the state government will spend Re 1 more for each mid-day meal of the students, School and Public Education Minister Nityanand Gond said that a decision in this regard was taken given the increase in fees.
Stating that the quality of the children’s food will improve due to the increase in mid-day meal allowance, Gond said that the government is spending Rs 5.90 per millet per primary school child and now it will spend Re 1 more. For students of upper primary school children, the allowance is Rs 8.82 per meal.
According to the minister, as the prices of essential items have gone up due to inflation, it was not possible to provide the children with nutritious meals in school at the current rate of allowance. “The prices are increasing and providing nutritious food to the children has become a cause of concern for the school authorities. The school authorities are helpless. On many occasions, we received complaints that the quality of mid-day was deteriorating. Keeping this in mind, the government has decided to increase the allowances for mid-day meals.
