The Social Welfare Department launched a pilot project — Food Transparency in Hostels & KREIS Schools — to ensure meal transparency across its residential schools and hostels. The initiative mandates wardens in Bidar, Chamarajanagar, and Raichur districts to post Global Positioning System (GPS)-tagged photos of meals served at these institutions on social media.
The department oversees 68 residential schools, 1,215 pre-metric hostels, and 713 post-metric hostels. Additionally, the Karnataka Residential Educational Institutions Society (KREIS) manages 821 residential schools and colleges, serving students from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Backward Classes.
Together, these institutions cater to approximately 4.39 lakh students, with 2.27 lakh enrolled in Social Welfare Department institutions and 2.12 lakh in KREIS-run schools.
Students in these institutions receive meals as part of the residential services. The department rolled out the initiative to enhance transparency and build public trust regarding the quality and consistency of meals, stated a report by The New Indian Express.
As per government orders, wardens are required to share posts, which will be shared on X with details such as the time and date of meals, the food quantity, the kitchen area, and the cooks preparing the meals. They have also been instructed to post GPS-tagged photos daily - breakfast by 9 am, lunch by 1.30 pm, and dinner by 7.30 pm.
Besides, district and departmental accounts will also be tagged in the post. To ensure effective use of social media, training has been provided to wardens on managing their X accounts and posting updates in a timely manner, according to The New Indian Express report.
A dedicated website has also been developed to list all the official X handles of schools and hostels in the three districts, allowing the public easy access to daily meal posts organised by district and taluk.
