HYDERABAD: On Friday morning, students from various government schools had a sumptuous breakfast before the school hours began with Education Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy along with Finance and Health Minister T Harish Rao inaugurating the ‘Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme’ at ZPHS Raviryal in Ranga Reddy district. Meanwhile, IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao launched the scheme at a government school in West Marredpally.
During the event, the education minister revealed that during a recent interaction with students from government schools, it came to light that only two out of every 10 students had breakfast on a daily basis. The scheme aims to address this issue by ensuring that government school students have access to nutritious food every day.
Following its launch, the scheme was extended to additional schools in Hyderabad. Specifically, one school was chosen from each Assembly constituency, totalling 15 schools, for the inaugural rollout. The MLA representing each respective constituency attended the launch in schools. After the launch, ministers and MLAs greeted the students and joined them for breakfast in the dining hall. For the remaining schools, the scheme is scheduled to be introduced after the Dasara holidays.
On the first day, a variety of food items, including puri and aloo kurma, idli, upma, and a sweet, were provided to students, parents, teachers, and programme attendees. Speaking to TNIE, Shravan Kumar, chief of operations at Manna Trust which provides mid-day meals and now breakfast, said that the food was cooked for almost 24,000 people, including 11,000 children from schools in 15 constituencies and five mandals around Hyderabad. The breakfast will be served in these schools according to the schedule from Saturday, he added.
Among the food items, children liked puri the most but the parents were worried about the children having such heavy oily breakfast daily. Rahima Begum, the mother of two boys studying in first and third standard at Musheerabad Government High School, said that even though breakfast was a little different from what she serves at home, she said they will now be able to concentrate more on their studies.
“The breakfast scheme seems beneficial, especially for poor children. As it is the first day, the food is really good. However, it is to be seen whether the same quality will be maintained, said another parent of a boy studying in sixth standard in the same school. The parents liked the quality of the food.
The scheme will also benefit almost 100 girls who live in Rainbow homes located on the premises and hostels around the schools. “I will prefer having breakfast here as this tastes nice,” said M Baleshwari, a ninth-standard student from Wanaparthy who has been admitted to SC girls’ hostel in Musheerabad.
State Excise, Sports, Culture and Tourism Minister V Srinivas Goud launched the scheme at Model Basic High School in Mahabubnagar district headquarters on Friday. Speaking on the occasion, the minister lauded the initiative and said that works have been undertaken at the school at a cost of Rs 50 lakh and all arrangements have been made to provide drinking water, electricity, road facilities and toilets to all the schools in the district.