West Bengal has approved Annamrita Foundation to deliver cooked PM POSHAN meals to government schools across all districts, shifting a major part of meal preparation and logistics away from individual schools and towards a phased central-kitchen model.
The state school education department’s order requires the initiative to be rolled out in phases to ensure what it describes as seamless logistics and quality delivery. District authorities have been asked to cooperate by sharing school enrolment details and helping identify suitable spaces for central kitchens.
The first phase began on August 1 at a select group of state-run schools in Kolkata. The programme is expected to expand to schools in the other districts, although the order reported by the Times of India does not specify a district-wise schedule, the number of schools covered in each phase or the capacity planned for individual kitchens.
The arrangement is being implemented under PM POSHAN, the cooked school-meal programme operated through cooperation between the state and the Annamrita Foundation, an affiliate of Iskcon. The foundation’s proposed role will require coordination between the school education department, district authorities, schools and the organisation responsible for preparing and distributing the meals.
The administrative change also creates a significant infrastructure requirement. Schools will need to provide accurate enrolment data so that meal quantities can be planned, while districts must help locate suitable spaces for central kitchens. The success of the model will therefore depend not only on cooking capacity but also on the movement of food from kitchens to schools and on the ability of local authorities to coordinate deliveries across different locations.
For schools, the decision could reduce the operational burden of preparing mid-day meals on campus. Swapan Mandal, general secretary of the Bengal Teachers’ and Employees’ Association, said relieving schools of meal operations was welcome and that the responsibility should be taken away from schools. At the same time, he raised concerns about the infrastructure required to expand Annamrita Foundation’s role across the state and described the timing of the approval as surprising.
The reported decision places Kolkata at the starting point of a much larger administrative transition. The state’s next steps will include collecting enrolment information from districts, identifying locations for central kitchens and extending the service beyond the schools included in the first phase. The education department’s phased approach is intended to support implementation and maintain meal quality as coverage expands.
