Maharashtra to resume mid-day meal scheme in all schools from March 15: Report

NEW DELHI: The Maharashtra government has decided to resume the mid-day meal scheme in all schools from March 15, the Indian Express reported. The Directorate of School Education issued a circular to resume mid-day meals in all schools which were closed due to pandemic, the report said.

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According to the report, the official notice says, “It is proposed to start serving cooked meals in schools from March 15, adhering to the Covid protocol. Order will be issued to local administrations to make required arrangements for this.”

“Even as schools had started earlier, increasing cases of Covid in December-January had again closed schools. This impact continued till earlier this month. Now with changing conditions, this decision is taken,” Dinkar Temkar, Director of School Education, Maharashtra was quoted as saying.

Maharashtra schools for Classes 1 to 12 reopened from January 24 for offline classes. The decision to resume offline classes was taken after Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray approved a proposal sent to him by the school education department.

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Schools in Maharashtra were closed in the first week of January due to a spike in the coronavirus cases and in the wake of the emergence of the highly infectious Omicron variant.

Meanwhile, the Bihar government has decided to start mid-day meals in schools from February 28. In an official notification, the state education department asked schools to ensure mid-day meals in schools along with offline classes with COVID-19 protocols in place from February 28. The department also warned that strict action would be taken against schools that do not follow the instructions.