In a major initiative to cater to the nutritional needs of schoolchildren in tribal areas, the district administration has readied a plan to introduce multi-grain meals in 64 tribal welfare residential educational institutions across the district.
The targeted intervention aims at raising the nutritional status of students in the tribal areas.
The move comes close on the heels of the plans drawn up by the district administration to harness the nutritional intervention projects of the Patancheru-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
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It gains significance in the backdrop of prevalence of malnutrition particularly anaemia and other deficiencies among children in remote tribal pockets due to poor economic status of their families.
The nutrition intervention envisages introduction of millet-based snacks in the menu of as many as 46 Ashram High Schools and 18 Tribal Welfare hostels spread in 23 mandals of the district, sources said.
The multi-grain meal containing sorghum (jonnalu) and finger millet (ragi) as ingredients will replace the upma served as breakfast in the tribal welfare educational institutions.
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Fibre-dense millet-based snacks fortified with micro-nutrients will be served as evening snacks as per the new intervention, sources added.