Evaluation of effectiveness of Mid Day Meal Scheme on Enrolment and Drop out Rate of Children in Rural Government Schools

Abstract

National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) commonly known as Mid Day Meal Scheme was launched by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (Department of Education) with effect from 15th August, 1995. The programme is designed to give a boost to the universalization of primary education. It is helping poor children belonging to disadvantaged section to attend school more regularly and help them to concentrate on classroom activities. The present research aimed at studying the impact of Mid Day Meal Scheme (commonly known as Aksharadasoha) on enrolment and dropout rate of children in five rural government schools in Hassan district of Karnataka state. The field study was based on the observations of 208 children, 104 girls and 104 boys studying primary/ upper primary and high schools in which Mid-Day Meals Scheme was functional. The data was collected from government school records. In all 208 parents of the beneficiary children were selected and interviewed to collect information about their socioeconomic status. The results showed that majority of the parents had their primary and upper primary level of education, they were engaged in agriculture and allied activities and their annual income was less than Rs. 50,000. The study also revealed that there was continuous decline in the enrolment of children (both male and female) per session from 2011-12 to 2014-15 in government schools of Hassan district. The drop-out rate has been minimized to a large extent and from the session 2011-12 to the session 2014-15.