National
ISKCON will start supplying midday meals to schools in Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal from August 1. They will also provide some subsidy. The food will be of very high quality – Suvendu Adhikari, West Bengal, Chief Minister
Adhikari also announced that the per-student allocation under the primary school midday meal scheme would be increased to Rs 10 from the existing Rs 6.78 from August 1.
Picture : ANI/X
ISKCON will start supplying midday meals to schools in Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal from August 1, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said after a meeting with state education ministers and senior officials of the Union education ministry.
Adhikari also announced that the per-student allocation under the primary school midday meal scheme would be increased to Rs 10 from the existing Rs 6.78 from August 1.
“ISKCON will start supplying midday meals to schools in Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal from August 1. They will also provide some subsidy. The food will be of very high quality. The allocation for the primary school midday meal will be increased to Rs 10 per student from the existing Rs 6.78,” Adhikari told reporters after the meeting at Bikash Bhavan.
The meeting was attended by minister of school education Dipak Barman, minister of higher and technical education Jagannath Chattopadhyay and senior bureaucrats.
“We have joined the National Education Policy. In the last three years, the Centre could not release funds because the previous state government did not follow its policy. We expect to receive this financial year’s grant within a week,” Adhikari said.
He said the discussions covered every component of the education sector, from primary and upper primary schools to colleges and universities.
“The focus is on providing modern education without forcing students to depend on private institutions, maintaining the student-teacher ratio, ensuring a balance between male and female teachers, appointing professors transparently on the basis of merit without political interference and modernising educational institutions,” he said.
The chief minister said around 81,000 schools had been identified for the release of composite grants.
“These schools will immediately receive composite grants which they did not get over the last three years because of the wrong policies of the previous government,” he said.
Adhikari said the government would upgrade infrastructure in schools as part of the overhaul.
“Midday meals will be cooked on gas and, step by step, solar panels will be installed. Every sch