Free school meals in India: why families choose private schools

Some children in India's poorest families may be missing out on free school meals because the scheme does not match their parents' aspirations, according to a study from Lancaster University and the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. The work was published in the Journal of Social Policy on 30 October 2026 and described in a 5 November release on EurekAlert. eurekalert.org

Scheme and study design

India's Mid-day Meal Scheme (MDMS) was introduced three decades ago. It provides free cooked meals to around 118 million children, with the aim of improving nutrition and encouraging school attendance. eurekalert.org The meals are available only in government and government-aided schools, so a family's decision about the scheme is tied to its decision about where to educate the child. eurekalert.org

The researchers interviewed 246 members of 60 low-income households in Uttar Pradesh and Goa. eurekalert.org They found that the scheme remains a vital support, particularly for families in acute hardship, but that its reach depends on factors beyond the meal itself. These include perceptions of school quality, the costs of schooling, household labour needs and the social meanings attached to receiving free food. eurekalert.org

What families weigh

Families judged the scheme less by its nutritional value than by how it fitted their hopes for their children. eurekalert.org Many chose low-cost private schools they saw as offering a better education, giving up free meals in exchange. Often this meant cutting back on food at home to pay the fees, which increased pressure on food budgets. eurekalert.org

For other families, relying on school meals carried stigma linked to caste, class, gender and religion, and to the expectation that parents should feed their own children. Some children felt ashamed to queue for food or ask for more. eurekalert.org In the poorest households, the free meal was often outweighed by the need for children's labour or by hidden costs such as transport. eurekalert.org

Lead author Dr Swayamshree Mishra of Lancaster University said that for families in the most difficult circumstances the scheme is a lifeline, but that families weigh it against their hopes for education, their sense of dignity and everyday pressures. eurekalert.org

The team proposes going beyond improving meal quality. Its recommendations are better infrastructure in government schools, framing and messaging that reduce stigma, community co-design of menus, lower hidden costs such as transport, and attention to how the scheme eases the daily care burden on working mothers. eurekalert.org The authors note that the findings are relevant beyond India for designing and evaluating school meal programmes. eurekalert.org

Lancaster and IIT Kanpur study: Indian families trade free school meals for private schooling

Scheme and study design

What families weigh

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