Students of a municipal high school in Chittoor corporation on Thursday urged officials to stop serving the dishes of ‘pulihora’ and ‘pongal’ in the midday meal scheme on Tuesdays and Fridays, and replace the menu with the regular sambar rice.
Deputy Educational Officer (Chittoor) Shriram Purushottam on Thursday inspected the Municipal High School at Santhapeta locality here. While he was having lunch with the students, a majority of the students wanted pongal and pulihora replaced with sambar rice.
“As the menu of the midday meal scheme is a Statewide policy, we have to take the request of students to the notice of higher officials for a review. I can’t take any individual decision here,” the official told the media later.
The reasons for the students seeking a change of the menu were quite interesting. Some students said pongal could be cherished as breakfast but was not suitable for lunch. The pulihoara lacked the right quantum of tamarind tinge or lemon mix in it, making it bland often.
Meanwhile, the Deputy EO instructed the workers of the midday meal scheme to compulsorily wear gloves and facemasks during the making and serving of the meal. He told them to periodically weigh the chikki and eggs, and return the stale eggs.
The official informed the students not to depend on “Corona pass”, but to study hard for the ensuing Class X examination.
