Karnataka may expand special nutrition scheme to high school

The scheme's expansion to high school students is expected to benefit around 9-12 lakh students and cost around Rs 32 crore annually, officials said.

Notably, over 19 lakh students from Classes I to VIII get mid-day meal in government schools as per the set menu under the PM Poshan scheme as per the fixed charges of around Rs 5.45 per child till Class V and Rs 8.17 per child from Classes VI to VIII. Besides, the government also pays Rs 5 per child extra to provide children with seasonal fruit once a week.(Representational)

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Karnataka’s school education department has proposed that the state government consider expanding the distribution of eggs, bananas and chikkis under the PM Poshan scheme to the students of government high schools also.

According to sources in the department, the special nutrition food (SNF) has received positive response from students between the 6-14 age group, or those studying in classes 1-8. In addition, officials also believe that the malnutrition problem is also a huge concern among high school students. “We have given a proposal to the state government to consider expanding SNF to government high school students to address the malnutrition issue among those students. The proposal is under consideration and is likely to come up in the pre-budget session of the legislature,” a department official said.

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According to the officials, the expansion of SNF to high school students is expected to benefit around 9-12 lakh students and cost around Rs 32 crore annually. Initially, the central government distributed eggs as part of the midday meal scheme in seven districts of the Kalyan Karnataka region suffering from malnutrition. However, the state government formally unveiled plans to expand the distribution of eggs/bananas/chikkis to all districts in July. But the plans were implemented across all divisions — Bengaluru, Mysore, Kalaburgi and Belagavi — only in October.

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According to data provided by the department, as on December 14, 38.37 lakh of the total 47.97 lakh students across the four divisions preferred eggs, followed by 3.37 lakh students who chose bananas and 2.27 lakh students who opted for chikkis.

While the distribution of SNF was also aimed at improving attendance in schools, the department is yet to conduct a full assessment. An official said, “We cannot surely say that it can translate into good attendance. We will have to wait till the end of the academic year to assess it. Moreover, the students’ preferences may vary from month to month.”

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midday meal programme