Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Sep 13: The state government is seriously considering the prospects of providing midday meal to PU students in addition to the other children from this academic year onward. It has been drawing up plan to manage funds for the implementation of the scheme.
In most of the districts, high school and PU colleges are located within the same campus. As of now, high school students have been provided hot meal in the afternoon. But PU students are kept out of the ambit of this scheme. Several organizations had approached the department of public instruction and PU education department seeking to extend the said scheme to PU sections of the high schools.
The government, which wants to take a positive decision on the above pleas, wants to implement midday meal programme for PU students. The minister for primary and secondary education, S Suresh Kumar, has held discussions on this matter with the chief minister, sources revealed.
The state at present has 1,204 government, 674 aided and over 2,500 private PU colleges in which 12.5 lac students are studying. Out of this, about 75 percent of students study in government and aided PU colleges. If the scheme is extended to PU students, it will benefit the rural students the most, and the government may have to bear the burden of Rs 180 crore annually towards the implementation of the scheme, an official of the department said.