The Rs 1,500-crore grant, which will be given over three years by the Azim Premji Foundation, will be used to supply boiled eggs to students of government and aided schools six days a week as against two days currently.
Credit: DH photo
Children studying in government and aided schools will soon get boiled eggs six days a week, with the department of school education and literacy set to receive a Rs 1,500-crore grant from billionaire Azim Premji’s philanthropic arm.
Confirming this to DH, official sources from the department said that the formal agreement between the government and Azim Premji Foundation was likely to be signed on Saturday.
The grant, which will be given over three years, will be used to supply boiled eggs six days a week as against two days currently, officials said.
Shortage of funds
This proposal to supply boiled eggs six days a week was before the government for several months now. But due to shortage of funds, the department was unable to implement it. “With major financial assistance from Azim Premji Foundation, we will be able to provide eggs for six days,” the official said.
The official said the mode of purchasing and supplying eggs and also the starting date to supply them was yet to be decided. Under the existing system, school development and monitoring committees (SDMCs) had been given the responsibility to procure eggs at the local level.
“Procurement for the supply of eggs two days a week along with mid-day meals has been done at the SDMC level. For the other four days in the week, we need to discuss with the organisation and decide,” the official said. In the beginning, considering the nutritional values, boiled eggs were supplied to students between classes 1 and 8.
There was a opinion from stakeholders that children of classes 9 and 10 consume lunch together with children in classes 1 to 8. Not providing eggs to kids in classes 9 and 10 amounted to discrimination, the stakeholders said.
“When this was brought to the notice of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, he agreed and extended the project for class 9 and 10 students too,” the official said.
Currently, the department is providing eggs twice a week to around 60 lakh children and 1.2 crore eggs are being supplied.
As per details available from the department, 30 per cent of the students are not consuming eggs and are opting to eat groundnut chikki or banana.