“A couple of years ago, meals were cooked just outside the classrooms and the smoke would get into the eyes of the children. Now, we do not face that problem and we need not worry about where to cook meals during the monsoon season,” said Chhaya Bapna, a teacher in one of the primary schools in rural Jaipur.

Of the 64,000 schools across Rajasthan, centralised kitchens cover only 4,000 schools. There are 12 centralised kitchens across the state and 11 are under construction. These cater to four lakh students in the urban areas.

The 500-odd Women Co-operative Societies, which prepare meals at centrally located schools and provide it to 16 schools, cater to over three lakh students. The total number of students being provided mid-day meals across Rajasthan exceeds 11 lakh.