INTRODUCTION:

"Everyone has the right to education, Education shall be free and compulsory at least in the elementary and fundamental stages”.

Primary school age is a dynamic period of physical growth as well as of mental development of the child. Research indicates that health problems due to miserable nutritional status in primary school-age children are among the most common causes of low school enrolment, high absentism, early dropout and unsatisfactory classroom performance. The present scenario of health and nutritional status of school age children in India is very unsatisfactory so therefore Government has started various nutritional programme to overcome this problem^.1

In 1925, a Mid-Day Meal Programme was introduced for disadvantaged children in Madras municipal corporation. The mid meal scheme is a school meal programme of the government of India designed to improve the nutritional status of school age children nationwide. Mid-Day Meals scheme was initiated on the philosophy that" when children have to sit in class with empty stomach, they cannot focus on learning". Studies suggest that interventions for protein-energy malnutrition are more cost effective at early ages. Feeding programs for school-age children do not feature as a cost-effective intervention in the World Bank study, although feeding integrated with micronutrient supplements and deforming is cost-effective for this age group². Programme supplies free lunches on working days for children in primary and upper primary classes in government. Serving 120,000,000 children in over 1,265,000 schools and Education Guarantee Scheme centers, it was the largest such programme in the world. It was introduced for disadvantaged children in Madras Municipal corporation. With a view to enhance enrolment, retention and attendance simultaneously improving nutritional levels among children, the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) was launched as a centrally sponsored scheme on 15th august 1995, initially in 2408 blocks in the country. By the year 1997-98 the NP-NSPE was introduced in all blocks of the country. It was further extended in 2002 to cover not only children in classes I -V of Government, Government aided and local body schools, but also children studying in EGS (Education guarantee scheme)/AIE (Alternative institutions of education) center. Central Assistance under the scheme consisted of free supply of food grains @ 100 grams per child per school day, and subsidy for transportation of food grains up to a maximum of Rs. 50 per quintal^.3

In September 2004 the scheme was revised to provide cooked Mid-Day Meal with 300 calories and 8-12 grams of protein to all children studying in classes I–V in Government and aided schools and EGS/AIE centers. In July 2006 the scheme was further revised to provide assistance for cooking cost at the rate of (a) Rs.1.80 per child/school day for States in the North Eastern Region, provided the NER States contribute Rs.0.20 per child/school day, and (b) Rs.1.50 per child/ school day for other States and UTs, provided that these States⁴ .

In Punjab, cooked Mid-Day Meal was provided to children of primary classes in one block In every district during the year 2002-03 and the cost of meal was Rs.3.80 per child per day. In order to improve enrolment, retention and reduce dropout rate of students in primary classes and also to improve the nutritional status of primary students, Government of India, launched a countrywide scheme, 'National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (Mid-Day Meal Scheme)' on 15th August-1995 (effective from 2-10-1995). Under this Scheme, students of primary classes were to be provided wheat @ 3 Kg per student per month (for 10 months in a year) subject to 80 per cent attendance. The menu Currently Mid-Day-Meal Programme covers 22.23 lacs children in Government⁵.

By seeing the positive and negative aspects of Mid -Day Meal Programme it has been concluded that this aspect should be looked at so as“ No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger”.⁶

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM:

A descriptive study to assess the attitude of parents towards Mid-Day Meal Programme in selected communities of Amritsar, Punjab

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

To assess the attitud of parents regarding Mid-Day Meal Programme.

To find the association of attitude of parents regarding Mid-Day Meal Programme with selected socio demographic variables.

ASSUMPTION:

The parents will having varying attitude toward Mid- Day Meal Programme.

METHODOLOGY:

Research approach:

Quantitative research approach.

Research Design:

Descriptive research design.

Research Setting:

The study was conducted at selected rural areas in Amritsar.

Target Population:

The target population for present study consists of parents of primary school children in Amritsar.

Sample and sampling technique:

Convenient sampling technique was used to select the parents of primary school children. The sample size comprised of 106 parents.

Description of tool:

The tool used for data collection is Self- Structured Likert’s 3 point scale to assess the attitude of parents regarding Mid-Day Meal Programme.

Section A-Socio-demographic data variables such as age, qualification, income, type of family, gender, habitat, caste/category, living pattern, occupation.

Section B-Self Structured Likert’s 3 point scale to assess the attitude of parents regarding Mid- Day Meal Programme.

Score Interpretation:

To assess the level of attitude the score was

Agree-3

Uncertain-2

Disagree-1

Data collection procedure:

· Data collection was conducted for 2 weeks (19-6-2017 to 30-6-2017) with 106 parents of primary school children of selected communities, Amritsar, Punjab.

· Prior to data collection formal permission was obtained from the principal S.G.R.D. college of Nursing, Vallah, Amritsar.

· Self-structured likert’s 3 point scale was given to the parents to obtain consent from the parents. It consist of two parts-

· Part A is questionnaire to assess the demographic characteristics of the parents.

· Part B is concerned with Self –Structured Likert’s 3 point scale to assess attitude of parents toward Mid-Day Meal Programme.

Plan of data analysis:

Analysis of the data was done in accordance with the objective of the study.

· Frequency and Percentage.

· Mean, standard deviation, mean percentage.

· Chi square to test the association.

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION:

In descriptive statistics mean, percentages and standard deviation were used for analysing the distribution of subjects according to their socio-demographic characteristics. In inferential statistics chi square test was computed. Results of the study were presented in the form of tables and figures. The p value at<0.05 was considered is as statistically significant objectives of the study were:

· To assess the attitude of parents towards Mid-Day Meal Programme.

· To find the association of attitude of parents towards Mid-Day Meal Programme with selected socio-demographic variables.

ORGANIZATION OF DATA FOR ANALYSIS:

To begin with the data was entered in a master sheet, for tabulation and statistical processing .in order to find the relationship the data was analysed and interpreted by using descriptive and inferential statistics. The data was represented under the following headings as per objectives.

Section A: Description of socio-demographic variables.

Section B: Assess the attitude of parents towards Mid- Day Meal programme.

Section C: Association of socio- demographic variables with attitude of parents.

Table: 1 Frequency and Percentage Distribution Socio-demographic characteristics of Parents attitude towards Mid Meal Programme. N=106

Sr. No.	Socio-demographic variables	F	%
1.	Age (In years)
a.	20-30	38	35.8
b.	31-40	60	56.6
c.	>40	8	7.5
2.	Gender
a.	Male	40	37.7
b.	Female	66	62.3
3.	Caste category
a.	SC	54	50.9
b.	OBC	17	16.0
c.	General	31	29.2
d.	Others	4	3.8
4.	Habitat
a.	Rural	106	100.0
5.	No. of Children
a.	1	13	12.3
b.	2	46	43.4
c.	3	32	30.2
d.	>3	15	14.2
6.	No. of school going children
a.	1	39	36.8
b.	2	42	39.6
c.	3	21	19.8
d.	>3	4	3.8
7.	Living pattern of parent’s
a.	Living together in same home	102	96.3
b.	Widow /Widower	3	2.8
c.	Separated/Divorced	1	.9
8.	Educational status of Mother
a.	Primary	59	55.7
b.	Secondary	23	21.7
c.	Graduation	4	3.7
d.	Post Graduation	2	2.8
e.	any others	18	17.0
9.	Occupational status of Mother
a.	Govt. Job	2	1.9
b.	Private Job	5	4.7
c.	Self employed	38	35.8
d.	Manual labour	32	30.2
e.	Unemployed	23	21.7
f.	any others	6	5.7
10.	Educational status of Father
a.	Primary	61	57.5
b.	Secondary	22	20.8
c.	Graduation	7	6.6
d.	Post Graduation	3	2.8
e.	any others	13	12.3
11.	Occupational status of Father
a.	Govt. Job	7	6.6
b.	Private Job	12	11.3
c.	Self employed	28	26.4
d.	Manual labour	52	49.1
e.	Unemployed	4	3.8
f.	any others	3	2.8
12.	Monthly family income (in rupees)
a.	<3000	54	50.9
b.	3100-5000	16	15.1
c.	5100-7000	6	5.7
d.	>7000	30	28.3

Section A: Description of socio-demographic variables.

In this section, analysis of socio-demographic variables of the subject is described in terms of age, sex, education, family income per month, family type, religion, habitat, parents occupation, living pattern. The findings are present in table 1

Table 1 reveals the categorization of parents according to the age, gender, caste category, habitat, no. of children, no. of school going children, living pattern of parents, educational and occupational status of mother and father and income

· As per age it was found that the more than half of parents (56.6%) belong to the age group of 31-40 years, followed by age group 20-30 yrs. (35.8%).

· Regarding gender more than half of parents are female (62.3%) and (37.7%) is male.

· It was analysed that 50.9% of the parents were belonged to SC caste category and all the parents lived in rural area i.e. 100%.

SECTION B:

This section deals with the analysis of the attitude of parents regarding Mid-Day Meal Programme. The data regarding attitude had been summarized using frequency and percentage are presented in table 2.

Table: 2 Attitude of parents towards Mid Meal Programme. N=106

Sr. No.	Attitude	f	%
1	Negative	13	12.3
2.	Positive	83	78.3
3.	Uncertain	10	9.4

TABLE: 2 Predict that the attitude of maximum of parents i.e.78.3% toward Mid-Day Meal Programme is positive and only 12.3% of parents were having negative attitude towards Mid- Day Meal Programme

Figure: 1 Attitude of parents Mid Meal Programe.

SECTION C:

Table :3 Association between attitude of parents towards Mid-Day Meal Program with selected socio-demographic variables. N=106

Sr. No.	Socio-demographic variables	Attitude			X²Value	df	p-value
Sr. No.	Socio-demographic variables	Negative	Positive	Uncertain	X²Value	df	p-value
1	Age (In yrs.)
a.	20-30	6	26	6
b.	31-40	6	50	4	4.259	4	.372^NS
c.	>40	1	7	0
2.	Gender
a.	Male	3	34	3	2.209	2	.697^NS
b.	Female	10	49	7
3.	Caste category
a.	SC	7	43	4
b.	OBC	3	11	3
c.	General	1	27	3	10.091	6	.121^NS
d.	Others	2	2	0
4.	No. of Children
a.	1	1	8	4
b.	2	7	36	3	10.236	6	.115^NS
c.	3	2	28	2
d.	>3	3	11	1
5.	No. of school going children
a.	1	2	32	5
b.	2	7	32	3
c.	3	3	16	2	4.079	6	.666^NS
d.	>3	1	3	0
6.	Living pattern of parent’s
a.	Living together in same home	10	82	10
b.	Widow /Widower	2	1	0	16.026	4	.003^**
c.	Separated/Divorced	1	0	0
7.	Educational status of Mother
a.	Primary	7	47	6
b.	Secondary	1	19	3	24.984	8	.005^**
c.	Graduation	0	4	0
d.	Post-Graduation	0	0	1
e.	Any other	5	13	0
8.	Occupational status of Mother
a.	Govt. Job	1	1	0
b.	Private. Job	0	4	1	12.929	10	.374^NS
c.	Self employed	6	29	3
d.	Manual labour	2	27	3
e.	Unemployed	4	16	3
f.	Any others	0	6	0
9.	Educational status of Father
a.	Primary	5	48	8
b.	Secondary	1	20	1
c.	Graduation	0	6	1	38.728	8	.000^**
d.	Post-Graduation	0	3	0
e.	Any other	7	6	0
10.	Occupational status of Father
a.	Govt. Job	2	4	1
b.	Private. Job	0	10	2
c.	Self employed	2	22	4	23.353	10	.105^NS
d.	Manual labour	9	40	3
e.	Unemployed	0	4	0
f.	Any others	0	3	0
11.	Monthly family income (in Rs.)
a.	<3000	2	46	6
b.	3100-5000	3	12	1
c.	5100-7000	1	4	1	8.493	6	.204^NS
d.	>7000	7	21	2

NB: df=degree of freedom, NS=Non-significant (p-value>0.05), **=Significant (p-value<0.05)