MID-DAY MEAL SCHEME AND DISCRIMINATION: AN ANALYSIS

Authors

  • Priyambada Shah Ph.D Scholar, Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

Keywords:

Mid-day meal, Right to Food, education, social inequality, discrimination

Abstract

The present paper is an attempt to understand the mid-day meal scheme. The scheme launched in mid-1995 had both positive and some negative impact. Although the scheme succeeded in bringing large number of students in its ambiance and retaining them in schools but in certain parts of India, it also led to ‘caste based discrimination’ against certain communities. It also enhanced gender equality whereby it succeeded in bringing girl child into the school, liberated working women and generated employment opportunities (as cooks). But the study showed that the caste based discrimination continued. During the meal times, the students were segregated on caste basis and the appointment of Dalits as cooks were opposed in certain areas. The study suggested that in some cases, the school became a mechanism to reinforce rather than eroding the prevalent social inequalities.

References

I. ‘Bright features of mid-day meal plan’. 19 September 1982. The Times of India.

II. ‘Caste bias in mid-day meal scheme’. 6 August 2007. The Times of India.

III. ‘Govt. announces mid-day meal plan’. 1 November 1995. The Times of India.

IV. Dreze and Goyal. 2003. ‘The Future of Mid-day meal’. Economic and Political Weekly vol.38, No.44, pp.4673-4683.

V. Khera, R. 2006. ‘Mid-day meal in Primary Schools: Achievements and Challenges’. Economic and Political Weekly vol.41, No.46, pp.4742-4750.

VI. Lok Sabha Secretariat. 2013. Mid-Day Meal Scheme. Reference note- No. 20 / RN/ Ref./ August/ 2013. Retrieved from htttp://164.100.47.134/intranet/Mid-DayMea.pdf (accessed on 27 May 2017).

VII. Thorat and Lee. 2006. ‘Dalits and the Right to Food- Discrimination and Exclusion in Food Related Programmes’. Working Paper Series. Indian Institute of Dalit Studies. Vol.1 No. 03. pp. 1-64.

Additional Files

Published

15-06-2017

How to Cite

Priyambada Shah. (2017). MID-DAY MEAL SCHEME AND DISCRIMINATION: AN ANALYSIS. International Education and Research Journal (IERJ), 3(6). Retrieved from https://ierj.in/journal/index.php/ierj/article/view/1076