Telangana Chief Minister Launches Breakfast Scheme for 23 Lakh Students:
Led by IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao, the inauguration of the Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme for government schools took place on Friday. This initiative will later be extended to encompass all state-run schools for students in Classes 1 to 10 following the Dasara vacation.
The scheme was officially launched at the Zilla Parishad High School in Raviryala, Rangareddy district, with the presence of Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy, Patnam Mahender Reddy, Ministers T. Harish Rao, Simultaneous launches occurred in select schools spanning all 119 constituencies. After the launch event, the ministers joined the students in partaking in the breakfast.
During the inauguration at a government high school in West Marredpally, Hyderabad, IT Minister Rama Rao highlighted that this groundbreaking initiative would positively impact approximately 23 lakh students. He emphasized the importance of upholding high-quality food standards and conducting regular quality checks to ensure that students receive nutritious and appetizing meals.
Finance Minister T. Harish Rao expressed that this move would transform school education by ensuring that students have access to nourishing meals, enabling them to concentrate on their studies. He underscored its particular significance for children from low-income backgrounds, as it alleviates the concern of sending their children to school on an empty stomach.
Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy pointed out that the scheme not only guarantees students’ daily access to nutritious meals but also addresses the issue of school dropouts. She shared a concerning statistic, revealing that only two out of every ten students had breakfast before coming to school. She extended gratitude to Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao for his understanding of these students’ challenges.
In addition to this, the Telangana government decided to expand the initiative to include students in Classes 9 and 10, going beyond the conventional mid-day meal program that typically caters to students up to Class 8. The breakfast menu offers two options, featuring a variety of dishes such as idli, pongal, poori, upma, vegetable pulao, and wheat rawa upma, accompanied by sambar and chutney.
This comprehensive scheme will encompass 23 lakh students across nearly 28,000 schools, encompassing aided and model institutions and madrasas under the education department’s purview. The Akshaya Patra Foundation will manage the breakfast program in urban areas, while self-help groups will oversee it in rural areas. The scheme is expected to incur an annual cost of approximately Rs 400 crore.
The decision to introduce the CM Breakfast Scheme in Telangana was informed by a study conducted by a team of officials who visited Tamil Nadu to observe a similar program there. Following their assessment and report submission, the Telangana government decided to implement the scheme for students in the state.
Also read: Kavitha’s Two-Day Visit to London Commences
