Revanth To Launch Meal For Inter Students on June 12

Hyderabad: Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy will formally launch the Breakfast Scheme and Mid-day Meals Scheme for Intermediate students studying in government junior colleges across Telangana on June 12, marking a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country for college-level students.

On the first day, 41,250 students studying in 64 government junior colleges will be covered under the scheme. The programme will subsequently be extended to all first and second-year Intermediate students across the state by the end of June. This scheme will benefit nearly 1.92 lakh students in 430 government junior colleges. The state government is expected to spend around ₹180 crore annually on implementing the two schemes.

Until now, mid-day meal schemes in India have largely been restricted to school students. No state in the country has so far implemented both breakfast and mid-day meals for college students. With this decision, Telangana is set to become the first state in the country to provide both breakfast and lunch to Intermediate students studying in government junior colleges.

Official sources said, under the breakfast programme, students will be served nutritious and freshly prepared food items including dosa, poori, millet idli, bonda, upma, chutney, sambar and mixed vegetable kurma. The government has designed a rotating weekly menu to ensure both taste and nutritional balance for students in the crucial Intermediate stage of education.

The weekly breakfast menu will include dosa with chutney on the first day, millet idli with sambar on the second day, poori with mixed vegetable kurma on the third day, bonda with chutney on the fourth day, idli with chutney on the fifth day and upma with chutney or sambar on the sixth day. Students will also be provided 150 ml milk on alternate days.

The government said the initiative was introduced after recognising the hardships faced by Intermediate students, especially those from rural areas, tribal hamlets and economically weaker sections.

The schemes have been designed in accordance with the recommendations of the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN). Students in Intermediate colleges generally belong to the 15-18 years age group, which is considered a crucial adolescent phase requiring adequate nutrition for physical and mental development. According to NIN recommendations, adolescents require around 1,029 kilocalories and 30 to 32 grams of protein daily. Based on these guidelines, the state government has structured the breakfast and lunch menu to ensure sufficient nutritional intake for students.