Kolkata: Eggs were served on Saturday with midday meals at 500 state-run schools, where Iskcon-supported Annamrita Foundation provides vegetarian food. The move followed chief minister Suvendu Adhikari’s announcement last Saturday that eggs would be supplied separately by self-help groups to children under the new midday meal arrangement.Students welcomed the return of eggs to their plates. The headmistress of a south Kolkata school said many children had been asking when eggs would be served again. “After a meeting, we had received an indication that eggs would be added to the menu but we did not expect it to happen so soon. It was a relief to see the children happy,” she said.While Iskcon provides the vegetarian meal, the school education department has instructed the self-help groups, which were earlier responsible for midday meal distribution, to send the eggs separately.The new system, being run by Iskcon, is being introduced to state schools in the KMC area in phases. While the new arrangement has started with 500 schools, Iskcon is expected to supply meals to all the 1,951 state schools in the KMC area. The list of schools in the second phase is expected soon.At Khanna Primary School, students were visibly excited at the arrival of boiled eggs for their meal on Saturday. A school official said khichdi and papad were supplied by Iskcon, while the boiled eggs came from the SHG. “Children look forward to eggs the most,” the official said. Class 3 student Karan Roy said he was happy to have khichdi with a boiled egg again. “We used to get an egg every Saturday but it was not served last week. I really enjoyed the food,” he said.At Deshbandhu Girls’ High School, Class 6 student Snigdha Dinda said the meal stood out despite the variety served during the week. “We had paneer and soyabean earlier, but today’s menu was the best. The khichdi was tasty, and I was surprised to get a boiled egg with it,” she said. A school official said the food quality and quantity had improved, adding meals now arrived in sealed containers. “Teachers are serving the food to students, but we need support staff. We have spoken to the department, which has assured us of a redress. The children are happy with the variety in the menu,” the official said.Vox –Radhika ShawClass 3Today’s meal was very tasty because my favourite item, egg, was there. The taste of the khichdi was very good. We all enjoyed the food.Karan RoyClass 3I love khichdi and boiled eggs. Today’s khichdi meal was very tasty. We used to get an egg every Saturday, but last week it was skipped. Today, I enjoyed the food!Rajoshee PanjaClass 7I am so happy with the food delivered over the last few days. There were so many varied items that made every day special. Today, it was beyond what we imagined; after getting khichdi, we were given boiled eggs separately, which we enjoyed a lot.Priyanka GhoshClass 8The taste of the food has suddenly changed over the last week, and today was a special day for us. We have been served so many varied food items that we never had before.(With inputs from Sayantan Chakraborty & Biplab Bhattacharjee)
