The Odisha government is all set to resume the midday meal scheme from April.

All the schools reopened and classes resumed in the state from February 28 and this is the first time in two years that the midday meals will be offered to students since they were halted on March 13, 2020 because of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Officials said that the standard operating procedures (SOPs) in this regard have been announced by the school and mass education department.

Apart from the hot cooked meals, the schools will also provide iron-folic acid tablets once a week to students from Classes I to VIII. These tablets will be administered every Monday after the meals. Around 43 lakh students will be benefitted from the scheme.

According to the SOP, the school management authorities and central kitchen agencies have been asked to get their facilities in place for preparing the meals for the students from April.

The grocery that was leftover since 2020 because of the pandemic will also be put under an edibility test to check if they can still be consumed.

The stock that has expired will be duly noted by the school authorities and then buried.

Social distancing norms will be adhered to by distributing the meals in a staggered manner to various grades.

Covid-19 SOPs will also have to be followed by the staff engaged in preparing the meals, said the authorities.

The staff will be supervised by members of the school management committees and parents teachers associations, after the department’s decision to include these bodies in the Midday Meals (MDM) process.

Similar guidelines have also been issued for central kitchen agencies or NGOs that are engaged in the MDM process.

At present a number of NGOs, including Akshaya Patra Foundation and Mahila Sahayika Sangha, are engaged in cooking and delivering midday meals in schools.