This Karnataka primary school offers a sweet deal for 100% attendance

Sweets such as wheat payasam, groundnut holige, laddu, huggi and jalebi are distributed

Amid the Bihar government setting the August 15 deadline for state-run schools to improve attendance, a government primary school in Karnataka’s Gadag district has come up with a sweet deal to tackle the issue.

For the last two years, the school has been providing its students sweets along with the state-sponsored mid-day meals. And it has borne results. Since July 2021, the school has mostly clocked 100 percent attendance.

Under the initiative Amrit Bhojan, organised by the school committee, every day children are served one portion sweet along with the rice and sambar offered by the state’s mid-day meal scheme. Sweets such as wheat payasam, groundnut holige, laddu, huggi and jalebi are distributed every day. On special occasions, even Mysore Pak is served. Currently, there are 307 students in this school located in Gadag’s Naregal town. The school, which was established in 1905, has classes from 1 to 7.

The idea was floated in 2021 by 60 donors of the school committee. It was started for a month as a trial but the initiative’s success encouraged the donors to continue with it. It costs Rs 2,000 per day to provide these sweets. “Teachers from private schools, businessmen from nearby districts and also people from various walks of life have come forward to take care of the expenditure since this initiative is not part of any government grant,” BB Kuri, principal of the school. He said the coming month’s expenditure has already been taken care of as the school has received a lump sum amount from a donor recently.

According to Kuri, most students hail from lower-middle-class families who do not have access to nutritious food. “We serve sweets such as groundnut holige which have nutritious value. This is also a huge attraction for parents and they encourage kids to compulsorily attend school,” he said.

Apart from sweets, the school also organises regular sports and moral classes to attract students.

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Various reports indicated that due to a lack of adequate facilities, being required for household work or sibling care at home, helping parents in agriculture or occupational work or participation in other income-generating activities, most children do not attend primary schools regularly.