Assessment of Mid-Day Meal (MDM) Programme in Coochbehar District of West Bengal

The aim of the present study was to assess the performance of Mid-day meal program among the beneficiaries. The study was conducted in the Tufanganj 1 block of Coochbehar district, both purposive and random sampling method have been used. Total 110 samples have been taken for the study. After pre testing of the structured schedule both personal as well group interview technique has been taken for collection of information. The collected data was processed with the help of statistical tool a like coefficient of correlation and factor analysis for drawing conclusions. The factor analyses of antecedent variables (x) have been done and that has been reduced the number of factors from 21 to 7 and from 8 to 3 for beneficiaries and teachers respectively. The variable Sufficiency of food has significant positive correlation (0.39*) with Avg. health of the student. Preference of food has significant positive correlation (0.599***) with Avg. health of the student (X18). Food items generally served has significant positive relationship (0.607*) with the variable Attendance increased and Seasonal dropout rate decreased (0.571*) after MDM respectively. The findings suggests that this Mid-Day Meal programme is really successful and if the allotment from the Govt. may be increased following the market price of the commodity then obviously this would be one of the most important progamme in the country which not only create the opportunity of education to children but also will create a strong foundation of the nation through the development of human resources.