Odisha schools mulling to take eggs off MDM menu?

Bhubaneswar: Rise in egg prices over the past few weeks has stoked fears that the nutritious food might not be served in mid day meals (MDM) at schools in coming days.

While an egg now costs Rs 6, the approved budget for MDM per student from Class I to V is Rs 4.58 while for students from Class VI to VIII, the per head allocation is Rs 6.83.

Amid rising prices of eggs, teachers are worried on how to accommodate the food in such a shoestring budget.

Bhagaban Panda, headmaster of the Balijhari Primary School in Kalyansinghpur said, “How a headmaster will provide MDM, if an egg costs Rs 6 whereas he is getting only Rs 4.58 per meal? If this price surge continues, we won’t be able to provide eggs in mid day meals.”

Hare Krushna Barik, headmaster of Malkangiri primary school, stated, “I am clueless whether egg will continue to remain feasible for us to provide in MDM if such price rise continues.”

Experts believe that egg is an integral part of MDM lack of which may affect attendance in schools as well as undermine the objective of providing nutritional food to children. At present, more than 49 lakh students of 58,200 schools across Odisha are getting benefitted under the MDM scheme.

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