What are the objectives & components of the Mid-day meal programme and ICDS

Mid-day meal programme:

The programme has both health & educational objectives. There are -

i. To improve the nutritional status & the attentiveness of school children attending the primary section.

ii. To improve school enrollment & attendance on one hand & to reduce dropout rates on the other.

Components of Mid-day meal programme:
The major component of this programme is food supplement. The raw food material supplied by international agencies includes corn soya meal (CSM), soya, wheat soya blend, SFB & salad oil.

The raw ingredients are cooked into "Upma" or "Khichri" or some other formes. They are also incorporated into ready to eat foods along with flavouring agents & condiments. Even milk powder in some places forms part of the supplies.

The meal provides roughly 450-500 kcal & 20-30 gm protein per child per day, which is expected to meet one-third of the energy & half of the proteins RDIs.

Objectives of ICDS

The specific objectives of ICDS are to:

i. Improve the nutritional & health status of children in the age group of 0 to 6 the child.

ii. Lay the foundation for proper physiological, physical & social development of the child.
iii. Reduce the incidence of mortality, malnutrition & school dropout.
iv. Achieve effective coordination of policy & implementation amongst the various departments to promote child development.

v. Enhance the capability of the mother to look after the health & nutritional needs of the child through proper nutrition & health education.

Components of ICDS are:

i. Supplementary nutrition.

ii. Immunization.

iii. Periodic health check-ups, treatment of minor ailments.

iv. Growth monitoring.
v. Non-formal pre-school education.

vi. Health/Nutrition education to women.

vii. Safe drinking water.