Schools covered under Centre’s mid-day meal scheme drop by over 84,000 in five years
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The number of schools covered under the Centre’s flagship mid-day meal programme has declined sharply over the past five years.
More than 84,000 schools have exited the scheme, according to data presented in Parliament.
The Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM-Poshan) scheme, which provides nutritious cooked meals to students in government and aided schools, covered 11.1 lakh schools in 2020–21. This figure fell to 10.3 lakh in 2024–25, marking a reduction of 84,453 schools, the Union Ministry of Education informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
The steepest decline was recorded between 2020–21 and 2021–22, when coverage dropped by 35,574 schools, from 11.1 lakh to 10.8 lakh.
The number continued to fall in subsequent years — by 7,604 schools in 2022–23, 9,509 schools in 2023–24, and a sharp 31,766 schools in 2024–25.
Responding to a query by Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh, Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary said that responsibility for implementing the scheme rests primarily with state governments and Union Territories.
“Under the scheme, meals are served to children for an average of 220 days per year,” Chaudhary said. He added that against an enrolment of around 11 crore students, nearly 8.5 crore children avail hot cooked meals daily across more than 10.35 lakh schools nationwide.
Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest drop in coverage, with the number of schools under the scheme falling from 1.6 lakh in 2020–21 to 1.4 lakh in 2024–25 — a reduction of 25,361 schools.
Madhya Pradesh followed, where coverage declined from about 1.1 lakh schools to just over 88,000.
Assam also saw a significant fall, from 53,427 schools to 44,106 over the same period.
Chaudhary told Parliament that three cases of food contamination, food poisoning, or substandard meal quality were reported in 2025–26. He said all affected children were treated and discharged from hospitals, with no casualties reported.
In April, the Centre increased the material cost of meals from Rs 6.1 to Rs 6.7 per student per day for kindergarten and Classes 1–5, and from Rs 9.2 to Rs 10.1 for Classes 6–8.
For 2024–25, the Union government initially allocated Rs 12,467.3 crore to the scheme, later revising it to Rs 10,000 crore. However, only Rs 5,421.9 crore had been spent by February 2025. The Budget for 2025–26 has earmarked Rs 12,500 crore for the programme.
The drop in PM-Poshan coverage comes amid a broader decline in government schools across the country. Data presented earlier in Parliament showed that the number of government schools fell from 10.3 lakh in 2019–20 to 10.1 lakh in 2024–25. At the same time, schools with zero or fewer than 10 students have increased.
In 2024–25, Bihar saw the highest number of school closures at 1,890, followed by Himachal Pradesh (492) and Karnataka (462). West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra reported the largest number of low-enrolment schools during the same period.
