Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' alongwith Minister of State for HRD, Sanjay Dhotre interacted with Education Ministers and Education Secretaries of all the States through video conferencing today.

Education Ministers of 22 States and secretaries from 14 States and Union Territories attended the conference.

During the video conference HRD minister announced 10.99% increase in annual central allocation of cooking cost (for procurement of pulses, vegetables, oil, spices and fuel) under Mid Day Meal Scheme to Rs. 8100 Crore, from Rs.7300 Crore, in view of situation arising out of COVID-19.

Union Minister said that Approval is being given for providing mid-day meal during summer holidays of schools, on which an additional expenditure of about 1600 crores will be made.

The Minister appealed to all the States to start the process of evaluation of answer sheets of Board exams and facilitate CBSE to evaluate answer sheets of the students in their respective States.