Celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor has been roped in by the Human Resource Development Ministry to revamp the menu for food served at over 500 residential Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) across the country.
Union Minister Smriti Irani on Tuesday confirmed that the star chef had been approached and he will be preparing the menu that will be served across all JNVs. She added that he will also be giving cooking lessons to chefs at these residential schools.
Navodaya Vidyalayas, affiliated to the CBSE, offer free education to meritorious students who mainly from rural areas. Students are provided education from class VI through to class XII.
According to Irani, the decision was taken with the aim of providing the best facilities to the students of Navodaya schools, which are run by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
“We want to do something special for these (JNVs) students who come from normal families, and I wish to match the quality of food served in JNVs with that in top residential schools. For this, we have requested chef Sanjeev Kapoor to prepare menu of every JNV and also train their cooks,” Smriti Irani said at the foundation stone laying ceremony of a JNV at Hathijan village in Guajrat.
Chef Sanjeev Kapoor took to Twitter to thank the ministry for considering him for the initiative.
Honoured to be considered for this initiative
“Sanjeev Kapoor may prepare menu of Navodaya schools” @smritiirani https://t.co/hMUpqj6yPw— Sanjeev Kapoor (@SanjeevKapoor) May 17, 2016
He was quoted telling Mumbai Mirror, “I have also wanted to work with children and nutrition, and with such a project, we can finally make a difference”.
With input from PTI