Mothers146; recipe for mid-day meals fails

The idea was that as stakeholders, mothers would be the best people to ensure that proper food is being served to the children.

It was also thought that their involvement will help maintain hygiene during the preparation of the food.

The association also empowers the mothers to report the matter if the quality of the meals is being compromised. But according to latest assessment of the MDM Authority, most associations are doing little.

8220;During inspection, it was found that the associations in a majority of the schools are not active,8221; said Santosh Rai, Additional Director of MDM Authority. 8220;Of the nearly 1 lakh primary and 41,000 upper primary schools, associations in most exist on paper. These now need to begin functioning,8221; he said.

In October, a meeting was held with the officials to discuss the subject.

Basic Shiksha Adhikaris were instructed to ensure that the associations in every school are activated by December-end.

At present, Basic Shiksha Adhikari, Lucknow, Rakesh Srivastava, is inspecting all schools in the city to find out where the associations are active and which schools need to activate them. 8220;In most of the schools, the quality of mid-day meal is being compromised,8221; he said.