Egg on government face

Vijayawada: Egg has literally stirred the proverbial hornet’s nest in the Akshaya Patra scheme which intends to supply mid-day meal programme under the aegis of the NGO, International Sri Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), in collaboration with the State government in the schools in Krishna district from next month. The ISKCON’s stipulation against supply of egg as part of the mid-day meal programme has caused a division between veggies and non-vegetarians in the school education system.

The decision to remove egg from the menu has become a hot topic of debate. As of now, children are provided eggs twice a week. However, there’s going to be a change in the scheme from the coming month as the ISKCON fraternity is going to implement the scheme with a customised menu and without the egg in the regular diet.

As per the religious customs of ISKCON, the members object to the supply of egg and the use of onions and garlic in the meal. Bananas are being supplied replacing the eggs to the students of Guntur and the same would be implemented in Krishna district. The mid-day meal scheme was designed to enhance enrolments and to reduce the drop-outs in schools apart from improving the nutritional level among children.

The State government is also planning to provide eggs from third party donors to supplement the nutritional values in the diet supplied to the children. However, it is still on cards and a thorough discussion is underway over the supply of eggs.Many teachers, parents and other social organisations are equally opposing the mid-day meal scheme of Akshaya Patra. The parents were also equally concerned as schools are providing nutrition which they can’t afford.

Eggs have got some rich protein content and play a vital role in the growth of children. Having egg twice a week would improve the condition of children suffering from malnutrition. A fruit can never be a substitute to egg as the former got only carbohydrates and dietary fiber. Intake of eggs should be mandatory for all the school children,” said Dr V Aruna, nutritionist.

As per the present ongoing process, Self-Help Groups have taken the responsibility of cooking the food on the school premises and feed to the school children. Under this scheme, each student would get the eggs twice a week.On the other hand, the teachers’ unions are also opposing the entry of Akshaya Patra in the government schools.

The teachers of a few schools alleged that the move is a way of institutionalising vegetarianism. The officials of school education department have forcefully collected the signatures of school headmasters who were opposed to Akshaya Patra’s initiative. The headmasters are not ready to take risk of the food supplied by the Akshaya Patra.

We are taking care of each child on supplying healthy and fresh food by cooking on our school premises. The student can also opt for extra food if they need and also boiled eggs were being supplied. Akshaya Patra ensures supply of food in packets, that too with a limited quantity of food. Even the teachers do fail to estimate the supply of food in view of fluctuation in the number of students attending schools,” said Kandula Mallikarjun Reddy, principal of a government high school in Krishna district.

The distribution team of Akshaya Patra has confirmed their operation in Krishna district. “We have planned to operate our services from August but due to the Krishna Pushkaralu we postponed it to October. But now, we would like to start our services from the last week of October or from November. The construction work of our centralised kitchen at Autonagar is in process but we don’t wait for its completion to start our service. We temporarily manage the scheme by getting food from Gollapudi kitchen. The menu is made with nutritional values and we supply bananas to the students as we don’t entertain eggs in our meal,” said Prasad, the distribution in-charge of Akshaya Patra, Krishna district.