The Hindu : Karnataka / Mangalore News : For some colleges, it is Akshara Dasoha by their own volition

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 27, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mangalore

For some colleges, it is Akshara Dasoha by their own volition

Raviprasad Kamila

Institutions come forward to offer free midday meals to poor students The amount collected as donation is kept as a fixed deposit and the interest accrued on it is used for the purpose

MANGALORE: Some private degree colleges in Dakshina Kannada district are offering free midday meals to chosen poor students and those who attend classes from far away places.

Neither does the Government grant funds for the purpose nor do the colleges collect any fees from students, but the midday meal is offered through funds donated by teachers, alumni, businessmen and organisations. The amount collected is kept as a fixed deposit and the interest accrued on it is used for the purpose. But as most banks have scaled down the interest rate on deposits in recent years, some colleges have been forced to look for new donors every year.

Vivekananda College, Puttur, started offering free midday meals to poor students over three decades ago. Other private colleges that offer free midday meals to poor students are Govindadasa College, Suratkal; Vijaya College, Mulki; Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheswara College, Ujire; St. Aloysius Educational Institutions, Mangalore; and Nehru Memorial College, Sullia, which offers subsidised meals. Most of the colleges provide coupons to select students to have their lunch at the college canteens. The cost of the meal is reimbursed by the college.

B. Sridhar Bhat, principal, Vivekananda College, Puttur, said the college introduced the free meal scheme in the Seventies. An average of 60 poor students are provided free meals in the college annually. The college has set aside a corpus for the purpose. Besides, teachers of the college sponsor midday meals for some students. A case in point is that of Mr. Bhat himself sponsoring the meals of two students.

Also, the college does not make public the names of students who avail themselves of this facility.

Such students just have to sign a register before leaving the college.

Govindadasa College, Suratkal, started the facility seven year's ago, says Vedavyasa Rao, who retired as the principal of the college recently. During the previous academic year, 150 students availed themselves of this facility. The college has kept aside Rs. 1.50 lakhs for the purpose. But as the number of students getting free meals increased in the previous academic year, the college had to raise another Rs. 60,000 from donors.

Misused

The college authorities note that as some students misused the scheme last year, they are planning to subsidise the meal for poor students from this academic year, according to K. Krishna Jois, who took over as principal of the college recently, said.

Vijaya College, Mulky, introduced the facility in 2000, according to Samuel Maben, principal of the college. The college sponsors midday meals of an average of 100 students a year. During the last academic year 110 poor students were provided free food.

He says that the college has kept aside Rs. 8.50 lakhs for the purpose.

Nehru Memorial College, Sullia, introduced a scheme to subsidise meals for poor students two years ago, says Damodar Gowda, principal of the college. The National Service Scheme in the college took the initiative to start the scheme in the college. He said that an average of 25 poor students are given meals at subsidised costs in the college every year.

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