Telangana schools maintain midday meals amid LPG concerns; action plan soon

The Telangana School Education department and the various State societies that organise residential schools and colleges are exercising caution in view of the ongoing LPG supply crisis caused by the situation in the Middle East. However, authorities said that no school has reported any issues so far.

The Consumer Affairs, Food, and Civil Supplies department issued a government order on March 13, following a video conference with the Union government, and established both a State-level and a district-level energy supply monitoring committee. However, neither committee includes school officials as members.

District review meetings led by District Collectors have also not specifically addressed LPG supply and its impact on daily school operations. Only a few officials have categorically stated that LPG allocation to schools will follow the priority for essential sectors.

In one such review conducted by Nalgonda District Collector B. Chandrashekar on Saturday, he obtained details regarding available stock, gas supply and daily consumption patterns in various residential schools and hostels.

He said, “Principals and officials from welfare departments must ensure that students in hostels, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas and residential schools face no disruption in their meals under the pretext of a gas supply shortage.”

According to Director of School Education E. Naveen Nicolas, no school in the State has reported any issues so far. Since the school midday meal programmes are managed by local Self-Help Groups, which fall under the Domestic LPG category, supply is not affected and is given priority.

According to the department, the State has 24,972 schools, the majority being local body schools (24,219), followed by Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (495), Model Schools (194), urban residential schools (29) and Telangana Residential Educational Institutions Society schools (35).

“There are close to 9,000 schools that rely solely on LPG for the meal programme. Among them, about 4,000 are larger schools with higher student strength, while the rest are primary and upper primary schools. Some also have induction stoves,” Mr. Naveen Nicolas said, adding that a comprehensive review will be conducted and an action plan released.

Most of the remaining schools depend on local firewood for midday meal preparations.

In Hyderabad, several headmasters and school administrators are unconcerned, as meals are supplied from centralised kitchens operated by trusts or NGOs.

For instance, Manna Trust supplies midday meals to 950 schools in Hyderabad and the neighbouring Ranga Reddy and Medchal-Malkajgiri districts daily, serving about 80,000 students.

“All our operations are steam-based and use firewood and briquettes (compressed blocks of coal). LPG use is minimal for the workers and required stock is available,” said Ramana Reddy, manager at Manna Trust.

School administrators also note that the academic calendar and ongoing examinations are a crucial period for students. For schools in Telangana, the last working day is April 23.

It is also the first time that the Telangana Secondary School Certificate (Class X) examination follows a schedule similar to the Central Board of Secondary Education, with three to five days between each exam, over a total 33-day schedule that began on Saturday.