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A Free Meal: India's School Lunch Program

August 11, 2015 | All Grades
By Kem Knapp Sawyer

Cooks Beddo and Bimla make rotis (a wheat flat bread) at a government school in Bawani Khera village, in south central Haryana. The menu for the day is roti and a vegetable dish. Image by Rhitu Chatterjee. India, 2014.

At a government school in Dujana, Haryana, children devour kadhi and rice. Image by Rhitu Chatterjee. India, 2014.

Schoolchildren in Haryana, India, eat rice and kadhi, a curry made with onions, garlic, yogurt and fritters made with chick pea flour. Image by Rhitu Chatterjee. India, 2014.

Girls eating their lunch at a government school in Bawani Khera village, in south central Haryana. Image by Rhitu Chatterjee. India, 2014.

Saroj (left) helps her colleague carry a cauldron of rice to the school kitchen after washing it. Image by Rhitu Chatterjee. India, 2015.

Image by Rhitu Chatterjee. India, 2014.

A meal of "sweat rice" made with rice, lentils and some vegetables being served to primary school children at a government-run girls' school in the village of Dujanna, Haryana. Image by Rhitu Chatterjee. India, 2014.

Saroj (left) and Santosh (right) carry a bowl of white rice after washing it. Image by Rhitu Chatterjee. India, 2014.

Sumit (left) and Monit (right) are best friends, but they're from different castes. Yet the two 12-year-olds regularly eat school lunch together, even from the same plate. That's something that you might not have seen at this school in Haryana before India's mid-day meal program began here about a decade ago. Image by Rhitu Chatterjee. India, 2014.

Saroj's teenage son watches her comb her hair before she heads to work. Image by Rhitu Chatterjee. India, 2015.

Santosh, one of the two cooks at this government school in Dujana, Haryana, pours the rice into the cauldron of curried lentils and vegetables. Image by Rhitu Chatterjee. India, 2014.

Saroj listens to the complaints and concerns of other cooks and kitchen help during a union meeting. Image by Rhitu Chatterjee. India, 2015.

Every school serves a different meal each day of the week. The menu for the day is khichdi, a dish made with rice, lentils and vegetables. Image by Rhitu Chatterjee. India, 2014.

Santosh (left) and Suman (right), the two school cooks, serve the khichdi to girls during lunch time. Image by Rhitu Chatterjee. India, 2014.

Girls eating their lunch in the school’s hallway. Image by Rhitu Chatterjee. India, 2014.

Cooks Beddo and Bimla make rotis (a wheat flat bread) at a government school in a village called Paposa, in south central Haryana. The menu for the day is roti and a vegetable dish. Image by Rhitu Chatterjee. India, 2014.

The following day, children at the same school get rice and kadhi, a curry made with onions, garlic, yogurt and fritters made with chick pea flour. Image by Rhitu Chatterjee. India, 2014.

Children devouring the kadhi and rice. Image by Rhitu Chatterjee. India, 2014.

This lesson is written as a series of notes for the facilitator. A series of questions on the resources for students is attached.

Educator Notes: 

India's midday meal program is the largest free lunch school program in the world. It feeds 120 million schoolchildren and employs 2 million women.

In a series of articles and radio reports journalist Rhitu Chatterjee discusses the program's impact on nutrition, school attendance, employment opportunities for poor or marginalized women who serve as cooks, and the effect on reducing discrimination by allowing children of different castes to eat together. Both shortcomings and benefits of the program are discussed.

A lively and colorful animation produced by Mathilde Dratwa reinforces key points in the reporting.

Introducing the Lesson:

Share the animation (Resource 1) with your students and discuss (see questions for Resource 1).

Read, Listen, Discuss:

Select 2 or three other resources. Ask students to read or listen to the reports and then answer questions related to each resource.

Optional: Provide students with the additional material listed under Resources.

Wrapping Up and Digging Deeper:

1. Compare and contrast India's mid-day meal program to lunch programs in the United States. How do programs in the U.S. meet health and nutritional needs? What are regional differences in the programs? How are local resources used?

2. What are other countries where school lunch programs are most effective? What makes them successful? What areas need improvement?

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