В школах Карнатаки отложили запуск программы бесплатных перекусов из-за нехватки данных и опасений учителей

Vijayanagara: A novel evening snack scheme for students in mining-affected districts of Karnataka is facing two immediate challenges even before its rollout: schools do not yet have an exact count of beneficiaries, while teachers fear the initiative could add to their already heavy non-teaching workload. Karnataka Mining Environment Restoration Corporation Limited (KMERCL) plans to provide nutritional snacks six days a week to primary and secondary school students in Vijayanagara, Ballari, Tumakuru and Chitradurga districts. The menu includes soaked groundnuts, sprouted green gram, chikki and other nutritious items. Fruits such as mosambi, orange or sapota are to be served on Saturdays. KMERCL has approved Rs 10.6 crore for the programme, with Rs 31.9 crore allocated for its implementation over three years. Of this, Rs 59.7 lakh has been earmarked for cooks and kitchen helps. District panchayats have asked deputy directors and block education officers to prepare for the rollout, and meetings of head teachers have already been held at the taluk level. However, schools are still waiting for updated student numbers. Transfers, fresh admissions, and the ongoing work to update student details on the SATS software have delayed the finalisation of beneficiary counts. “Student data will be updated after Sept 5. We must wait until then to start the evening snacks programme,” said Gurubasava Binnal, head teacher at a government school in Hosapete. The other concern is whether the scheme will translate into additional duties for teachers, who already spend considerable time on administrative and clerical work. These include recording AI-based attendance twice a day and digitally documenting mid-day meal distribution. Network problems often add to the time taken for such tasks, eating into teaching hours. Teachers support the nutritional objective but are concerned about how the scheme will be implemented. If they are required to arrange, supervise or document the distribution of snacks, they fear it could further divert them from classroom work. They say the scheme’s success will depend on ensuring that cooks and helpers handle food-related work, while procurement, distribution and record-keeping do not become additional responsibilities for teaching staff.