(This story originally appeared in on Jun 11, 2014)

NEW DELHI: HRD minister Smriti Irani has proposed, what she calls, three big ticket ideas in school education.She has asked the department of school to look into the cost of mandatorily giving buttermilk to children as part of the Mid-Day Meal scheme, opening separate model schools for talented boys and girls at the district level and declaring Saturday as sports day in schools.Sources said buttermilk is being proposed so that it can cure rampant amoebiasis among school children. Extra cost of giving butter milk is being worked out, sources said.MDM is availed by 12 crore children across 12.65 lakh schools. Many states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu give milk to children under the MDM scheme. Some states even give iron tablets to girls and other health supplements.Irani has also asked the ministry to look into the cost of starting model schools. Navodaya Vidyalaya Sangathan has been asked to examine the minister's proposal.However, starting model schools at district level is an old idea that could not take off during the decade-old UPA rule. Previous government had proposed 6,000 model schools (3,500 run by government and 2,500 under Public-Private Partnership).Schools under PPP are yet to become a reality despite the best efforts of HRD ministry and Planning Commission Even model schools under the government are not fully operational. Within the ministry also, there is a lukewarm approach towards model schools under PPP. "There is a need to revisit the earlier scheme of model schools and incorporate the minister's proposal," a source said.As for devoting Saturday in schools only to sports, sources said the idea can be initially implemented in schools run by the HRD ministry.It is also being pointed out that since most schools have a five-day week, a day devoted to sports can vary."It is a good idea. Most education policies have emphasized blending sports and academics but in reality nothing has changed. Devoting a day for sports can usher in positive change among children and will make them more confident," a source said.