Now, state to open canteens at PU colleges
- Canteens on the model of Indira Canteen will be set up at all PU Colleges with over 500 students
- At an interaction meet, students demand for a library at every PU Colleges
- The state government plans to reduce the burden of books on students in future
FollowCanteens on the model of Indira Canteen will be set up at all PU Colleges with over 500 students, said Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait. He was interacting with school students at an interaction session at Vikas Soudha, jointly organised by UNICEF and Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights. A girl student asked him a question regarding setting up Indira Canteen at PU Colleges and he immediately responded positively, reports Kannada Prabha.
Nandini, a student from Hoskote Government High School said around 500 PUC students come from various regions, starting early in the morning without eating breakfast. School students get Mid-day meal but the PUC students in rural villages go hungry. An Indira Canteen is being constructed near college, why can’t the government construct an Indira Canteen, especially for the college students, she asked.
The Minister asked her what were they doing all these while, for which the students replied they would go hungry and many students have fainted unable to bear the hunger. Realising the seriousness of the problem, the Minister immediately announced that at every Pre-University College with over 500 students a canteen would be set up where food would be provided at subsidised rates.
On complaints of lack of libraries in colleges, the minister said that it was not possible to have libraries at all schools. Hence a Book Cell will be established at all schools. The minister also assured that after consulting with KSRTC MD arrangement will be made to distribute bus passes to students at the school itself instead of them standing in queue at the bus stands.
Sindhu, a student from Chitradurga Government School asked the Minister why there was so much discrimination in government with regard to students. "Why only SC/ST students are getting scholarship? Why the rest of them were not students? Just like the Right to education, all students have the right to government facilities. What sin did we commit?," she asked. The Minister was left with no answer and was embarrassed. Finally, he managed to just say there is reservation prescribed in the Constitution itself.
The Minister also said the government is planning to reduce text book printing in a phased manner instead upload it online.Â
