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West Bengal Enhances PM POSHAN: Improved School Meals, Support for Cooks, and Secured Kitchens
In addition to being an important source of nutrition, school meals provide the only meal to many children. West Bengal has taken an important step toward improving school nutrition by increasing the PM POSHAN budget by ₹639 crore. The West Bengal government will subsidize the cost of cooking and provide additional funding for Cook-cum-Helpers. Additionally, every PM POSHAN school will have an LPG-based kitchen.
The PM POSHAN initiative will positively impact 51.61 lakh students and provide relief for approximately 2.24 lakh Cook-cum-Helpers. These measures combined will improve both the quality of school meals and the conditions of the workers implementing the scheme.
Benefit School Meals
One of the most important measures is the improvement of cooking costs for the PM POSHAN scheme. The cost of cooking has been increased to ₹10 from the previous cost of ₹6.78 per child per day for pre-Primary and Primary school children and the Government of West Bengal will bear the additional cost of ₹412.11 crores.
This enhancement will:
- Benefit 51.61 lakh students directly.
- Enhance the quality of school meals.
- Improved nutrition support in the PM POSHAN scheme.
- Assist in the preparation of school meals that are healthier.
The increased flexibility in the cooking subsidies will allow schools to prepare more appropriate and balanced meals as food costs continue to become prohibitively expensive.
Cook-Cum-Helpers Get Increased Monthly Honorarium
There has been a considerable increase in the honorarium of Cook-cum-Helpers. While the monthly honorarium was previously ₹2000, it is now ₹3000. Around 2.24 lakh Cook-cum-Helpers under the PM POSHAN programme are the beneficiaries of the increased honorarium. The increase in the honorarium means an additional outlay of around ₹224 crore in the state budget.
The increase in the honorarium provides greater financial support to Cook-cum-Helpers for their increased contributions to the largest school meal programme in India.
100 Percent LPG for PM POSHAN Schools
The other important element of the financial package is the clean cooking infrastructure.
The West Bengal government has sanctioned 100 percent LPG coverage for all PM POSHAN schools by taking on the expense of LPG installations, which is ₹3000 for each unit.
To achieve total coverage of LPG, an additional ₹2.5 crore has been allotted.
The initiative is expected to:
- Improve the safety of the kitchen.
- Reduce the smoke exposure of Cook-cum-Helpers.
- Provide a cleaner cooking atmosphere.
- Facilitate safe meal preparation in schools.
What is the Impact of Changes
An initiative of a major scheme of the Ministry of Education, PM POSHAN (formerly the Mid-Day Meal Scheme) is the largest school health and nutrition initiative in India. It is instrumental in improving the health of children and the regularity and learning outcomes of children in the classroom. It also creates livelihoods for thousands of Cook-cum-Helpers in India.
Most of the recent approvals target different aspects of the implementation of the PM POSHAN Scheme by raising funding for Meals, Strengthening Kitchen Infrastructure, and improving the Compensation of Workers. Most of these aspects have so far been addressed in a silo and have focused on nutrition only. A meal of good nutrition is essential for good concentration and reduces absenteeism. It is a worthwhile investment for improving the education of children.
Conclusion
The latest changes by the West Bengal Government are one of the most extensive changes to the PM POSHAN Scheme at the state level in recent years. These changes, with increased meal costs, better support of the Cook-cum-Helpers, and the promise of 100% LPG School Kitchens, aim to improve both the quality and the service of School Meal programs. These programs have the potential, if implemented well, to improve the nutrition of children and create a safe and dignified environment for the Cook-cum-Helpers.
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