The Education Department in Mysuru at the behest of the president of the zilla panchayat, Pushpavathi Amaranath, is making efforts to distribute milk to schoolchildren five days a week from November.
This is as the government is preparing to provide milk for five days a week under the Ksheera Bhagya scheme from next year.
After realising that huge quantity of milk powder was lying unused in Mysuru district at a meeting held recently, Ms. Pushpavathi instructed officials to use it to distribute milk for five days.
H.R. Basappa, DDPI, and other senior officials have agreed to the idea and assured the president that they would chalk out a programme and would start giving milk for five days a week from the first week of November.
Accordingly the DDPI has reportedly directed the Block Education Officer to hold meetings of headmasters of their jurisdiction and examine the viability of providing milk to schoolchildren for five days a week without seeking any additional grants or additional manpower.
The Block Education Officers will hold the meetings with headmasters in a day or two and elicit their opinion about the proposal. Later, the Block Education Officers will send the collective opinion of the headmasters over the proposal based on which the department would start distributing the milk to children for five days a week.
At present school children are being provided milk for three days a week.
Ms. Pushpavathi told The Hindu that she came to know that milk powder pockets that remained unused were taken away by school staff and many headmasters had submitted a proposal to the Education department to return the powder pockets to KMF, which is the agency supplying the powder.
To ensure that whole of the milk powder supplied to the schools would be utilised completely and to prevent any corrupt practices in distribution of milk to school children, she thought of providing milk to children five days a week. There is no additional burden on the department by doing so, she said hoping that the department would start giving milk for five days a week from first week of November.
Between 45,000 to 53,000 kg of milk powder was being supplied to Mysuru district to distribute milk .
Between 45,000 to 53,000 kg of milk powder supplied to Mysuru district and a huge quantity goes unused
