The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) plans to conduct a survey of students in government schools who have consumed eggs in eight districts in the State. The survey will be conducted at the end of the month to check if there is any improvement in the nutritional status of children.
The department had asked government schools to begin supply of eggs from December 1. Students who do not eat eggs were provided bananas. Sources in the department said that the survey would be conducted at the end of December.
The survey will examine how many students are consuming eggs, if there is any improvement in their nutritional status and if there are adverse effects or allergies reported among these children.
Currently, eggs are provided to students from Classes I to VIII in government schools in Bidar, Raichur, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Koppal, Ballari, Vijayapura and Vijayanagar.
The objective of conducting the survey, officials said, is to learn the benefits of providing eggs to children. “We have currently asked schools to provide them eggs 12 times a month and ₹6 is provided for each child. If the malnourishment rates have come down, we can urge the State government to extend this project to all other districts,” a source said.
The department has come under pressure from religious heads to stop distribution of eggs. Primary and Secondary Education Minister B.C. Nagesh had even said that they are exploring other alternatives to eggs.
However, department officials maintained that they were only looking at alternatives to bananas as they did not have protein.
“We are looking at chikkis as an alternative to banana as peanuts have protein and they have jaggery and are not high in sugar content. We also are in talks with companies to avoid the use of plastic in packing these chikkis,” a source in the department said.
