Breakfast Scheme in Districts Falls Flat, Leaving Many Students Hungry

Hyderabad: The much-anticipated Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme in Telangana, which aimed to provide nutritious breakfast to students in government schools, has hit a major roadblock. The initiative was supposed to go full-fledged reaching about 23 lakh students after the Dasara vacation, but it has faced several issues, leaving many students in several districts of Telangana without their morning meal.

While government schools in Hyderabad have managed to implement the scheme successfully, many students in outlying districts of Telangana have been forced to miss out on breakfast due to a lack of funds and a series of logistical challenges.

One of the key issues identified by midday meal workers is the lack of communication and coordination with those on the ground, resulting in zero to poor execution of the scheme. "There were no meetings or discussions with us, the workers on ground, or our representatives, or even the mandal level deputy education officers, they just woke up one day and made the announcement and we were expected to do it," said Anita Kasu, a midday meal volunteer from Asifabad.

Another factor contributing to the scheme's struggles is the disruption caused by the model code of conduct ahead of the upcoming elections. "All workers across various districts have had to temporarily suspend our strike asking for payment of previous bills and promise hike of our honorarium," said another worker who said they will resume their protests once the elections are concluded.

In a bid to address the financial woes faced by midday meal workers, some have approached their respective District Education Officer (DEO) and submitted reports of pending bills from the government regarding the midday meal programme. "We have expressed our intent to withhold the preparation of breakfast until these financial issues are resolved and the official said he would convey the same to education minister Sabitha Indra Reddy," Maruti P. from Nizamabad told Deccan Chronicle. He added that the DEO told them that the pending bills or hike can't be addressed at the moment because of the election code of conduct.

Furthermore, some districts have reported that teachers and even students are skipping breakfast because they are required to arrive at school at least an hour earlier due to the breakfast scheme's delayed implementation. "We take a bus from about 40 km away from the school at 7.30 am. When we saw a bleak attendance of students turning up for breakfast at 8.15 am, we gave up and handed over the responsibility to the midday meal workers to take care of it," admitted a teacher from Karimnagar on condition of anonymity.

In a couple of schools in Nizamabad, students are being served ragi java at 11.30 am instead of the intended 9 am. The delay has been attributed to counting how many students are in attendance once classes have begun, to avoid wastage of limited resources.