Over 10 lakh students — nearly 25 per cent — in upper primary classes are not being served meals as per the scheme, according to the figures of the School Education Department.

As per the latest figures, of the 10,907 schools and Madhyamik Sikhsa Kendras (MSK) across the state, midday meals have been made available in 8,153 schools.

This means around 10,13,000 students in the remaining 2,754 schools are not being provided food.

The records also show that the scheme has not been implemented in three districts — Kolkata, Darjeeling and South Dinajpur.

In Kolkata, midday meals are not served in most of the 1,200 primary schools.

The officials cite reasons like infrastructural problems — most of the schools are being run in rented rooms and there is no separate place for cooking food.

In schools where the scheme has been implemented, the food is cooked in community kitchens and then transported there.

In Darjeeling, officials blame the scheme’s non-implementation on political factors; in South Dinajpur, the district school administration is yet to launch it.

“We are facing some problems in the implementation of the midday meal scheme in the upper primary classes. We are trying to implement it in areas where we currently face face problems,” said School Education Minister Patha De.

De, meanwhile, claimed that in the case of primary classes (classes I to V) the reach of the scheme in Bengal has been around 95 per cent.