No meat, eggs or school uniforms in State Gurukuls 

Students at SC, ST, BC and Minorities residential schools and colleges do not find egg, meat or fruits in their daily diet, or even school uniforms to wear, just a few weeks into the start of the new academic year.

Contractors and suppliers of these essentials are vexed as their payments are pending for several months. Across the State, barring a few cases of goodwill, traders have openly protested with principals and ended meat and egg supplies. And the current diet, as reported by several principals and officials in the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TGSWREIS), mostly comprises vegetables.

“I have been waiting for my payment of about ₹10 lakh for six months now. I have stopped mutton supply. I manage to supply chicken and eggs just because I don’t want to hurt the children,” says Jaleel, a city-based supplier. His uncles, who supply to hostels in Gowlidoddi and Narsingi, have already halted deliveries.

Other suppliers said they approached the TGSWREIS head office with representations, but did not find any resolution. Yadagiri, an egg supplier to at least five SC, ST and Minorities hostels in Ranga Reddy district, says the usual supply is about 6,000 eggs a week. “Principals of a couple of schools are trying to arrange some payment by pooling their funds, but it is not sufficient. The department owes me ₹3 lakh,” he says.

According to a senior official at TGSWREIS, who acknowledged the crisis, “the ‘Common Diet Scheme’ intended to ensure equitable nutrition is now faltering. How can principals be forced to improvise menus without sufficient budgetary support?”

Another official, also requesting anonymity, said the “indecision over the new centralised procurement policy”, which was supposed to streamline tenders and supply, has no administrative order, and field-level officers are left without operational clarity.

TGSWREIS officials and principals opine that without immediate intervention of the government, the overall implementation would slip into the next quarter, and an early decision would ensure basic supplies at least by September.

The State government as ‘Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s Diwali gift to all hostellers’ in November 2024 enhanced the diet and cosmetic charges by 40%, and the ‘Common Diet Scheme’ aim was to benefit about 8 lakh students in about 3,943 residential schools.

The carefully crafted four-week new common diet has egg at least five times a week, chicken four times and mutton twice a month, besides seasonal fruits and protein snacks every day.

Regarding supply of uniforms, principals said students in ST Gurukuls are using cloth supplied for last year’s uniforms, SC Gurukuls are yet to receive new sets for two consecutive years, and BC and Minorities’ students received partial supplies.