More girls are now going to school after the introduction of the mid-day meal scheme, a senior official of the union human resources development ministry said here today.

After the introduction of the mid-day meal scheme the boy-girl ration in schools has been reduced by nine per cent, joint secretary in the union HRD minister Amarjeet Singh, who was here to review the implementation of the scheme in the Northeastern states, said.

"Earlier the gap was 25 per cent, now it has come down to 16 per cent. We want to bring it down to 10 per cent. Earlier the girl was expected to cook meals for the siblings, but now they are going to school due to availability of the meal there," Singh said, adding that the literacy level among the females has also come up subsequently.

Stating that Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have been showing better increase in literacy rate compared to other states, Singh stressed that the government wanted to ensure that infrastructure like kitchen sheds, utensils and cooks were in place in all schools.

"11 crore children in 12 lakh schools across the country are benefiting from this flagship programme. According to recent studies, the scheme is responsible for removal of classroom hunger, improving gender parity and increase literacy rates and good health," he said.