The nutritious breakfast drink provided to students in government schools across Telangana by the State government in collaboration with Sri Sathya Sai Annapoorna Trust helped in increasing enrollments significantly. As many as 17.68 lakh children enrolled in various government schools as on October 2024 giving much needed impetus for teachers to impart education to children.
Rangareddy district topped the list with over 1.40 lakh enrollments followed by 1.08 lakh enrollments in Sangareddy and 98,014 enrollments in Nizamabad.
Identifying the importance of nutritious breakfast although midday meal is provided to students, the State government in collaboration with the trust started providing nutritious breakfast in 2016. SaiSure, a balanced micronutrient-rich ragi drink laced with jaggery, were provided to children, explained Sri Sathya Sai Annapoorna Trustee and CEO, Kadali Anand Kumar, in an interaction with The response for the initiative was normal in north Telangana when it was launched in 2016 but after Covid-19 it gained momentum after the schools were reopened in 2021 with teachers from government schools in erstwhile Nalgonda, Karimnagar and Medak requesting to supply nutritious breakfast. Accordingly, all the government schools in the State were covered resulting in the increase in enrollments, Kumar said.
“We (the State government and Sri Sathya Sai Annapoorna) together are spending Rs.12 per child every month for providing the breakfast drink,” he said. Explain.