Punjab adds desi ghee halwa in midday meal’s Wednesday menu
The schools in Punjab are currently closed for winter break and will reopen on January 8.
4 min read
The midday meal is served to children from classes upper kindergarten (UKG) (pre-primary), class 1 to 5 (primary) and 6 to 8 (upper-primary) in Punjab's government schools. (Representational Photo)The students in Punjab government schools will now also be served fresh “desi ghee halwa” in the midday meals under the PM Poshan scheme, as per the latest order. According to the latest menu issued by the education department, which has to be followed from January 1 to 31, the school have been ordered to serve “desi ghee halwa” every Wednesdays along with black/white channe (chickpea) and poori/chapati. The halwa, also locally known as kadha in Punjab, is a dessert prepared using fresh ghee, flour/sooji and sugar.
The schools in Punjab are currently closed for winter break and will reopen on January 8. The midday meal is served to children from classes upper kindergarten (UKG) (pre-primary), class 1 to 5 (primary) and 6 to 8 (upper-primary) in Punjab’s government schools. The teachers however have given mixed response to the addition of “halwa” in menu. Speaking to The Indian Express, while some said that affording desi ghee in current budget won’t be possible in schools where enrollment is on higher side, others said that students are fond of halwa and it can be managed with the help of villagers and donations.
In January 2024, the education department had ordered the inclusion of banana (owing to its nutritional value) in the midday meal menu. However, on the insistence of some farmer unions, who had claimed that the locally grown “kinnow” can be supplied to the schools, the orders were modified and it was left to the teachers to serve any “seasonal fruit” to the children. Now most of the schools still serve banana once a week due to the affordability and convenience in carrying the fruit.
During the same period, another addition of “poori/chana” in the menu had led to resentment among teachers who had complained that rolling and frying so many pooris was taking too much time and eating up a lot of oil, thus making it impractical to serve it to hundreds of students. Now, the schools have an option to either serve poori or chapati with chana every Wednesdays.
In the last week of November 2024, the Centre had revised the cooking cost for midday meals. Prior to the hike, the cooking cost per child was Rs 5.45 each for primary students and Rs 8.17 each for upper primary students. The cost per child was raised to Rs 6.19 and Rs 9.29, respectively.
A teacher said: “It won’t be an issue to prepare halwa but procuring desi ghee in bulk quantity in current budget won’t be possible.” Another teacher said: “Desi ghee can be easily arranged in villages where enrollment is 30-60 students but will be a problem in schools where the number of students is very high.”
“Cooking cost needs to be enhanced further if halwa made from desi ghee has to be served. Our school has 1300 students to take meals,” said another teacher.
Another teacher said: “Kids are very fond of halwa. Earlier also we served it on special occasions such as teacher’s day, birthdays etc. In Punjab, many schools are already using desi ghee for garnishing chapatis. I don’t think it will be an issue to prepare halwa also.” Another teacher said that currently most schools were using mustard oil for preparing midday meal, and it will be a new project altogether to prepare desi ghee halwa.
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