PANAJI: Goa served 3.1 crore midday meals to students from Class I to VIII during the last academic year 2017-18. Both at the primary and upper primary level, Goa’s coverage of students enrolled under midday meal scheme was between 85% and 92% over the last three years, Union human resource development ministry officials found at their annual review of the scheme in Goa.The state’s coverage was much higher than the national average, which was 76%.The state’s monitoring of quality of midday meals has also improved with nearly 70% funds provided for the purpose utilised. In every school, either the headmaster, teacher or a member of the parent-teacher association tastes the meal in Goa before each meal is served to students, minutes of the meeting held in New Delhi, last month, with HRD officials states.“If the quality is acceptable then it is served to the students,” minutes of the meeting state.More than 1.4 lakh students in 1,468 schools are served midday meals.Among the best practices in Goa, HRD officials said over 60% schools in the state had water purification facilities with multiple taps of drinking water available to students.The state government also contributes Rs 3.6 at the primary level and Rs 3.55 at the upper primary level per meal, this is Rs 2 and Rs 1 more, respectively, than the minimum contribution expected from a state.15 meal samples ‘below norms’It was, however, pointed out that 15 of the meal samples tested during 2017-18 were found to be ‘below norms’.“Foods samples are collected and tested randomly by the directorate of food & drugs administration official. Nutrient analysis is conducted in the laboratory of Goa College of Home Science, Panaji . The analysis is done using standardised weighment method. A minimum of six samples per month are collected for testing. Fifteen samples were found below norms out of 84 samples,” the state told the Union HRD officials. While the central government is spending Rs 12.8 crore on the implementation of the midday meal scheme in Goa, the state shells out Rs 7.4 crore on the scheme.

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