Govt announces special Onam gift for school students; Education Minister issues direction

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government has announced that rice will be distributed to school students as an Onam gift. Education Minister V. Sivankutty said that all students who are beneficiaries of the school mid-day meal scheme will receive 4 kg of rice each. A total of 24,77,337 students from pre-primary to class 8 will benefit from this scheme.

The government has approved distributing rice from the stock available with the Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco). Supplyco will also be responsible for delivering the rice to schools. For this, the government has decided to pay an additional 50 paise per kilo, apart from the existing transportation charge. If there is a shortage of rice stock in a district, Supplyco has been directed to bring rice from nearby depots and distribute it. The extra cost for this will also be covered under the current transportation rate.