Due to a lack of funds and the rising cost of eggs, the Karnataka school education department has announced that egg distribution as part of the midday meal scheme will be temporarily limited to once a week, stated a report from The New Indian Express.
According to a circular released by the Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL), the decision to reduce the number of eggs distributed will be revised after the presentation of the state budget on July 7. Previously, under the midday meal scheme, eggs would be distributed twice a week and were to be distributed for 46 days of the academic. In case a child did not want eggs, this would be substituted with bananas or chikki.
Waiting for the state budget
However, with the change in government, this is likely to change. The department released a circular, stating that the distribution of eggs, chikki and bananas would be temporarily limited to once a week due to a lack of funds. However, they stated that this would be resumed to its original status post the presentation of the state budget. Officials stated that the change would be reverted and students would receive eggs twice a week as previously mentioned.
Eggs on more days?
In the meantime, sources from the department also stated that there is a proposal being made to the government to increase the amount of eggs distributed to students. While currently eggs are distributed on 46 days of the year, the department has proposed over twice the increase, appealing for eggs to be distributed for 100 days.
Currently, the scheme is running as per the previous year’s budget allocation, however, this is expected to change in the coming year. As per the previous budget allocation, the price of purchasing and cooking the egg was set at Rs 6, with the eggs to be purchased at Rs 5 and the boiling and shelling of the egg to constitute the rest of the amount per egg. However, with egg prices soaring to over Rs 6, this has caused issues with the purchase of eggs. As of Wednesday, the price of eggs is at Rs 6.03.
