Eggs off mid-day meal menu in Telangana schools amid rising costs, pending bills

Eggs have been removed from mid-day meals in Telangana government schools due to rising prices and pending payments. Agencies and cooks halted supply, leaving students without protein, though the Education Department has now instructed resumption of egg distribution

Hyderabad: Eggs are off the mid-day meal menu in several government and local body schools across the State. Owing to rising cost of per egg and pending bills from the State government, agencies that supply mid-day meals and cooks have halted providing eggs to children, depriving them of their protein source.

The State government has been providing Rs.6 per egg per student in primary and upper primary schools. However, only Rs 2.5 is being released per egg per student of high school, while the price of each egg is around Rs.6.

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Due to rising costs and unable to bear the loss, an agency in Hyderabad and several mid-day meal cooks in government-run schools have halted providing eggs to children for about a month.

“For the first time, egg is off the mid-day meal menu as the agency that supplies food to the school has cited the rising cost of egg for halting it. The schools have not been receiving eggs after Dasara vacation,” said headmaster of a government-run school in Old City.

As per the mid-day meal menu, eggs are to be supplied thrice a week, with one each on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. On the remaining days, students are given bananas.

“Students are to be provided bananas in the absence of eggs. However, neither eggs nor bananas are being provided. Some schools like mine are providing Bagara rice. The government should not deprive students of their protein,” said a school assistant of a government school in Secunderabad.

An office-bearer of Telangana Mid-Day Meal Workers Union said the government had not released bills for providing eggs for the last eight months. “The government has not even released honorariums for the last several months. Even the cooking cost being released is not sufficient,” she said.

M Ravinder, a Mathematics teacher with Government High School-Nallakunta, said the government must ensure that students are provided nutritious food. “The food supplying agency has halted supply of eggs due to pending bills from the government. In addition, the government should release a budget for providing evening snacks for Class X students who have been attending special classes since September. In the absence of a budget, teachers are spending from their own pockets,” he said.

Acknowledging the egg supply issue, a senior School Education Department official said strict instructions had been issued to provide eggs to all schools. “Due to pending bills issue, a trust that supplies food halted eggs. We already issued instructions directing them to supply eggs irrespective of the pending bills and the trust has started providing eggs from Monday,” the official added.