Egg in midday meal shouldn’t be stopped owing to high costs, Karnataka education dept tells schools

A memo by the department of school education in Karnataka stated that the supplementary nutrition programme for children must be implemented to the fullest potential and the distribution of eggs In fact, the Kalyan Karnataka region is where the pilot implementation of eggs in midday meals began after concerns about malnutrition among children. “Incidents of not distributing eggs were reported in only some government and aided schools in the Kalyan Karnataka region. The cost of one egg was Rs 4 in October and it increased to Rs 5 in December. Hence, the school management can use the savings from previous months to purchase the eggs. Also, the attendance of students is not 100 per cent every day but school authorities purchase eggs for all students. There the management can spend wisely depending upon the attendance of the students on the day,” said the official.should not be stopped owing to high costs. The memo was issued after reports of some government schools not distributing eggs along with the midday meals.

When deputy directors of public instruction in different districts, block education officials and other officials visited some schools for regular inspection, it was found that the school authorities were not distributing eggs as part of midday meals.

As per the government order of July 2022, the school education department states that the unit cost of eggs would be Rs 6 per student. However, with the cost of one egg now increased to Rs 5.80 from Rs 4.20, and with the inclusion of transportation and other logistical charges, school authorities, midday meal project officials, and cooks have complained that the total expenditure on distributing eggs increased. As a result, they requested the school education department to work on a solution to keep the distribution of eggs under Rs 6 per unit.

A senior education official working on the midday meal programme said most of these issues were found in the Kalyan Karnataka region like Bidar, Kalaburagi, Ballari, Vijayanagara, Koppala, Raichur and Yadgiri and in the Dharwad district.

In fact, the Kalyan Karnataka region is where the pilot implementation of eggs in midday meals began after concerns about malnutrition among children. “Incidents of not distributing eggs were reported in only some government and aided schools in the Kalyan Karnataka region. The cost of one egg was Rs 4 in October and it increased to Rs 5 in December. Hence, the school management can use the savings from previous months to purchase the eggs. Also, the attendance of students is not 100 per cent every day but school authorities purchase eggs for all students. There the management can spend wisely depending upon the attendance of the students on the day,” said the official.

A memo dated January 10, by Vishal R, commissioner of the department of public instruction, also suggested that the schools can use the School Development and Monitoring Committee’s (SDMC) development funds to procure eggs. In addition, the memo noted that certain schools are distributing bananas and chikkis to students who have opted for eggs. As a result, the commissioner highlighted that the school authorities must not work against the preferences of students and must offer the correct special nutrition food as per their preferences. Distribution of eggs, bananas and chikkis among students in 4 districts of Karnataka.

The memo also suggested that the cooks must ensure that the eggs are peeled, boiled and distributed as per the standard operating procedure and they must be wary of bad-quality eggs. It also suggested that all the expenditures related to the special nutrition food project should be reviewed and properly maintained on records and must be submitted to the zilla panchayat office.

source : indianexpress