Chandigarh, May 2 -- Around 20% of students in government schools across Punjab missed out on free mid-day meals during the 2024-25 academic year, even as the central government has expressed grave concern about the drop in school enrolment and the coverage of the school meals programme in the state. Mid-day meals were served to an average of 15.24 lakh children out of a total of 19.1 lakh enrolled in the pre-primary section and elementary classes (1 to 8) in government schools across the state, with 3.85 lakh students missing out on mid-day meals in schools. The number of students who missed out or skipped free school meals was higher in Bal Vatikas (pre-primary) and upper primary (classes 6 to 8) sections. The pre-primary sections have an enrolment of 1.62 lakh, and 1.19 lakh, or say 74%, of them were served mid-day meals on an average daily, whereas the coverage was 77% at the upper primary level with 5.24 lakh of the 6.83 lakh students availed school meals, according to figures provided in the minutes of a meeting held by the Union ministry of education (MoE) on April 17 to consider the annual plan and budget of Punjab for 2025-26 under the centrally-sponsored Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM-POSHAN) Scheme. In primary classes (1 to 5), 83% children - 8.82 lakh out of a total of 10.65 lakh - availed free meals during this period. The PAB meeting was attended by senior officials of the school education department of Punjab. The central ministry's programme approval board (PAB), which reviewed the state's performance, expressed concern over a drop of about 60,000 in student enrolment in government schools in the state, which came down to 19.10 lakh in 2024-25 from 19.69 lakh in the previous year. During the PAB meeting held on April 17, Union secretary, school education and literacy, Sanjay Kumar expressed grave concern over the drop in enrolment and advised the state to review the reduction and submit a report by June 30. According to minutes of the meeting issued on April 29, student coverage under the school meals scheme decreased by 74,000 during this period between April 1 and December 31, 2024, with Moga (50%), Kapurthala (55%), Muktsar (58%), Mansa (61%), and Fatehgarh Sahib (61%) reporting the lowest coverage of children in Bal Vatikas. At upper primary level, Tarn Taran (52%), Ludhiana (68%), SAS Nagar (75%), and Muktsar (75%) had the lowest coverage. The Union education ministry has asked the Punjab government to look into the reasons for low coverage in these districts and submit an action taken report. However, a senior official of the school education department attributed this primarily to absenteeism and some children skipping school meals. "We consistently strive to ensure regular attendance, as missing school and mid-day meals undermines the very purpose of the scheme - to provide them with the adequate nutrition essential for physical and mental development," she stressed. The MoE, in its meeting, approved a budget of Rs.370 crore for providing nutritious mid-day meals to 1.2 lakh students in Bal Vatikas, 9.05 lakh in primary classes and 5.32 lakh at upper primary level in 19,620 government schools in the state during the current financial year. This includes central assistance of Rs.231.65 crore and the minimum mandatory state share of Rs.138.43 crore. The Government of India (GoI) will bear the entire cost of food grains amounting Rs.159.87 crore at Rs.41.73 per kilogram (kg) for rice and Rs.29.8 per kg for wheat for FY 2025-26, of which Rs.148.7 crore is as subsidy borne through the department of food and public distribution under the National Food Security Act, 2013. The state government has allowed to provide seasonal fruits to students once in a week as supplementary nutrition. The central ministry asked the state to increase the number of meals tested to check their quality and nutritional contents through accredited laboratories. Though 165 samples were tested and all were found to be meeting the norms last year, there was no testing of meals done in seven districts - Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Ludhiana, Mansa, Patiala, Ropar, and Tarn Taran. The state's school education department has been asked to share testing reports with the ministry. The MoE also flagged the issue health checkups of government school students, pointing out that only 68% children were screened. It specifically drew attention towards the dismal numbers in Amritsar, Ludhiana, Pathankot, Tarn Taran, and Fazilka. The school education secretary appreciated the progress made by the state in setting up school nutrition gardens, utilisation of food grains, data reporting, construction of kitchen-cum-stores, and procurement of kitchen devices....