BENGALURU: Karnataka’s education department is batting for an extension of the midday meal scheme through the summer holidays for more than 55 lakh students. They comprise nearly 90 per cent of the 61.24 lakh students enrolled in Classes 1 to 10 in state board schools.A large number of these beneficiaries are from government lower primary and higher primary schools.
The department has already sought permission from the Government of India (GoI) to extend the programme beyond the designated tenure of April 10. “A substantial amount for the scheme comes from the Central government for beneficiaries till Class 8. We are requesting the GoI to extend it till May. We are yet to receive a reply,” a top department official told The New Indian Express.
The cost of 60 per cent of the food and transportation is covered by the Central government, for students till Class 8. The State government foots the bill for the remaining 40 per cent of the food cost, besides the entire cost of food and transportation for students of Classes 9 and 10.
On an average, the State and Centre incur a cost of Rs 4.13 per day per student of Classes 1 to 5, and Rs 6.18 per day per student of Classes 6 to 10, who require higher nutritional intake. Part of the expenditure is rice, dal, vegetables, oil, salt, (cooking) fuel and condiments. Ever since the Unlock phases began, post lockdown, the government resorted to supplying dry ration kits to students.
After the high court’s intervention, the government had to clear its 108-day backlog of pending midday meals that were to be given to students, but were denied to them in June and July 2020, and August to October 2020.Dry ration kits worth Rs 4.97 per student per day are being given to students of Classes 1 to 5 and kits worth Rs 7.45 per student per day to students of Classes 6 to 10.