Philippines delegation heads to India to learn from the world’s largest school meals programme
A study visit to Chennai brought Philippine government officials together with Indian partners to explore how large-scale school meals programmes are designed, delivered and monitored.
Representatives from the Government of the Philippines visited Tamil Nadu, India, in February to learn from the operation of one of the world’s most established school meals programmes. The visit formed part of the Research Consortium’s ongoing work facilitating learning exchanges between countries working to strengthen their national school meals programmes.
India’s national PM POSHAN scheme provides daily meals to around 140 million children in 1.2 million schools, making it the largest school feeding programme globally. Within the country, the state of Tamil Nadu is widely recognised for its pioneering role in school feeding, having operated government-supported programmes for more than 40 years.
Officials from the Philippines Department of Education (DepEd) and partners, including the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Ministry of Education in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), joined a three-day study tour co-organised by the Research Consortium, the German Corporation for International Co-operation (GIZ), and the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) to learn from Tamil Nadu’s decades of experience.
During the visit, the delegation explored Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme, which delivers hot meals from centralised kitchens to urban schools. The model reduces labour costs compared with school-based kitchens while maintaining efficient and professionalised food preparation. Participants also visited schools to observe food preparation, hygiene practices and the organised distribution of meals to students.
“This visit provided a valuable opportunity to see how a large-scale programme operates in practice,” said a representative from the Philippine delegation. “Learning directly from India’s experience will help inform how we strengthen and expand school meals programmes in the Philippines.”
The delegation also met with the Tamil Nadu Department of Social Welfare and scientists from MSSRF to understand how the programme manages nutrition and supply chains at scale. Staple ingredients such as rice, oil and salt are procured nationally, fortified, and distributed to all states, while vegetables, eggs, spices and herbs are sourced locally. Meat and milk are excluded, simplifying logistics and eliminating the need for cold chains at school level.
“Learning exchanges like this allow governments to share practical lessons from programmes that are already operating at scale,” said Dr R. Gopinath, Principal Scientist at MSSRF and Co-Chair of the Research Consortium’s Food Systems Transformation Community of Practice. “India’s experience shows how sustained government commitment and strong operational systems can deliver school meals to millions of children every day.”
Insights from the visit will help inform ongoing reforms to the Philippines’ School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP) and contribute to regional collaboration ahead of the Southeast Asia School Meals Coalition meeting, to be hosted by the Philippines later this year.
