Hyderabad: Education department officials initiated action on a report published in these columns, in the edition dated November 5, by allocating funds to hire additional cooking staff to ensure that around 100 girl hostel residents of the Model School & Girls Junior College in Vikarabad do not go hungry.
In the report, Deccan Chronicle highlighted the plight of hostel residents, who went hungry due to a shortage of cooks for the facility.
The hostel, in Vikarabad's Nawabpeta mandal, had been grappling with a severe shortage of kitchen staff. Labourers were reluctant to accept the Rs 6,000 monthly wage offered for the cook position, demanding higher salaries or preferring daily wage work as it paid Rs 300 per day. This left the hostel girls in dire need of nourishment, sometimes, even relying on the midday meal leftovers.
Upon publication of the news report, the mandal education officer and
district education officer swiftly conducted an inquiry, recognised the urgent need to address the problem and allocated funds to hire additional kitchen staff to provide regular meals for the girls. On Wednesday morning, three dedicated cooking staff were put on the roster to ensure fresh food three times a day.
The students and the school staff thanked the education officials for their quick and effective response.
