When Finance Minister Bhatti Vikramarka allocated funds for a meals scheme for Intermediate students in the 2026-27 state budget on March 20, Telangana became the second state in the country to introduce such a support scheme. Andhra Pradesh had announced a similar initiative in January 2025. "No child in Telangana should begin a school day on an empty stomach," he said while presenting the scheme's details in the Assembly.
The scheme will benefit roughly two lakh students across 430 government junior colleges — and for many of them, it means one fewer reason to drop out. It has two components: a morning drink and a hot afternoon meal. From the 2026-27 academic year, the state also plans a breakfast programme spanning pre-primary to Intermediate — milk on three days a week, ragi malt on the remaining three.
The basis of the scheme is quite sound. Adolescence is a nutritionally precarious stage. Students from poor families who choose government junior colleges often leave home without adequate breakfast and cannot afford lunch. Hunger drives them to skip afternoon classes — and eventually, school altogether. A hot meal, studies consistently show, is as much a pedagogical tool as it is a welfare measure.
Telangana's government is betting ₹1,400 crore annually that it is worth it. The scheme is not purely a nutritional push — it is also tied to an education reform. The state has decided to merge Intermediate with schooling under a plus-2 model. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has said the shift is long overdue and that several other states have already adopted it. Class X board exams, he added, will continue unchanged.
The announcement has resonance beyond policy. Years ago, Telugu media reported a group of lecturers in Nalgonda district pooling resources to provide lunch for their students, having noticed most arrived with empty tiffin boxes. The initiative was widely commended — a quiet signal that the need existed long before the state acted.
That need was formally voiced by the Telangana Government Junior Lecturers Association, which had been pushing successive governments to extend mid-day meals to junior colleges. Association president Dr. P. Madhusudhan Reddy repeatedly criticised the erstwhile BRS government for not honouring a promise made by then Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao. The association had raised the demand with the current CM nearly a year ago, citing students skipping lunch due to family finances.
After the budget announcement, lecturers, principals and students gathered at colleges across districts to express their appreciation — through posters, milk showers and group meetings. For them, it was a long-pending solution.