Mutton on menu for girls of KGBV schools in Telangana

Hyderabad, Dec 29: Here is a good news for the girls, who are studying in 475 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) residential schools across Telangana.

From January 1, about 80,000 girls of underprivileged sections of KGBV schools will be served mutton every Wednesday and their food menu will also be improved with additional items, including ghee, eggs and fruits on a daily basis.

Mutton on the two days will be in addition to chicken that is already made available to them every Sunday. The diet was being improved as it could help increase the IQ levels of children in the age group of 11 to 16, said School Education Director G. Kishan.

He told The Hindu that there would not be any extra financial burden on education department which is handling the KVBV programme because the State government was supplying super fine variety of rice at Re 1 a kg. It gave the department a cushion to make additional purchases within the allotted budget.

The KGBV is a Centrally-sponsored programme and implemented by the State government in the ratio of 60:40 respectively. The budget per head worked out Rs.1,000 to Rs.1,100. Poor girls belonging to SC, ST, BC and minority communities or those who have a single parent and are destitute are enrolled in the schools.

On the other hand, mutton for students from Intermediate to post-graduate courses in social, tribal and backward class welfare hostels already started three months ago and helped check their visit to parents on weekends.