Android App for Mid-day Meal & Akshaya Patra Foundation’s initiative

Just when Digital India campaign was making lives better in the academic aspect of education, it began bringing smiles in the non-academic aspects of the education field as well. Schools in Maharashtra will have to upload data on a daily basis, as the Mid-day Meals (MDM) scheme will now be monitored in almost real time. The uploading of the data will be done on the application by two authorized teachers from each school MDM in charge, Nilesh Waghmare, Nagpur district, said, "We have made an Android application and a portal to collect data related to MDM. Data like the number of students on roll, number of students present every day, their daily requirement and consumption each day will be tracked."

"In order to have access to the Android application, all schools and their respective scheme in charges will have to register on MDM portal on the school education website," he added.

Anil Konge, senior teacher from Mahatma Gandhi Centennial School said, "This is a good initiative as many times the authorities use only half the quantity of grains they have been assigned. But things are tweaked on paper and they misuse the remaining grains. I suggest that a committee of parents should be set up in each school to taste the preparations for children, to ensure hygiene and quality of food as the authorities can't be trusted. A proper menu should be decided to avoid monotony and to ensure that children get a balanced diet."

Shiju Lukose, a teacher at St. John's High School, said, "It will help to maintain same yardstick everywhere, as some schools do it well but some don't. It will help poor kids, who rely on this scheme, as malpractices can be stopped. A central kitchen should be set up so that all kids get same standard of food."

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According to Akshaya Patra Foundation's website, it will supply MDM to 32 schools in the city, July onwards. Based out of Bengaluru, the foundation will play a major role in supplying meals to schools in various parts of the country. Over 2,000 schools are part of its network. With their base kitchen in Nagpur, located at Wathoda, Akshaya Patra Foundation will be serving 5,000 students in the initial phase.

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