Airline airlifts eggs to remote Bhutan schools free of charge

A Drukair helicopter will airlift dozens of trays of eggs to Lunana’s isolated schools this week, ensuring that no child, regardless of geography, is left behind.

This is part of the government’s One-Child, One-Egg initiative that provides one egg per child daily through the school feeding programme.

The initiative will benefit about 70 students in three schools in Lunana, which began classes on April 1. This includes Lunana Primary School, Mendrelgang Extended Classroom, and Thanza Extended Classroom.

Drukair has signed an agreement with the Bhutan Livestock Development Corporation Limited (BLDCL), the programme’s aggregator, to transport the eggs free of charge.

Without this support, eggs flown to Lunana could cost as much as Nu 60 a piece, compared to the Nu 8 to Nu 12 BLDCL pays to farmers, inclusive of transport. In Lunana, a tray of eggs costs between Nu 1,400 and Nu 1,600, as locals buy them from shopkeepers who transport supplies via helicopter.

Starting this academic session, children in schools identified under the One-Child, One-Egg programme have been receiving eggs to combat nutritional deficiencies.

Initially, about 32,000 students in 300 pilot schools were part of the initiative. With Lunana now covered, the updated list includes 345 schools—290 primary schools, five special educational institutes, and 50 extended classrooms, benefiting a total of 31,579 students.

In Bhutan, malnutrition remains a major health concern, with 17.9 per cent of children under five stunted, 8.7 % underweight, and 36.5 % of adolescent girls anaemic.

Eggs are considered a superfood, rich in high-quality protein, vitamins, and minerals such as Vitamin D, B12, and iron, all essential for children’s growth, development, and cognitive function.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations is supporting the pilot rollout of this initiative with an initial financial commitment of US$2 million for the first two years.

Around 169 farmers nationwide are supplying eggs to the programme. In areas where farmers cannot meet demand, BLDCL steps in by sourcing eggs and supporting transportation and logistics.

In the first year, the programme is expected to deliver around 8.4 million eggs at an estimated cost of Nu 101 million.

Since the initiative’s rollout in February, it has been delivering eggs to some of the country’s most remote schools, even where there are no motorable roads.

Dukti Primary School, located in Yalang gewog, Trashiyangtse, has only six students. It takes a full day’s trek to reach the eggs at the schools.

Two men, Ugyen Chophel and his friend from Dukti, make the difficult trek twice a month to deliver the eggs to both Dukti and Melongkhar Primary School, which lies along the way and has 32 students.

As part of the initiative, BLDCL currently delivers eggs to schools twice a month.

Yangyel Lhaden

Kuensel

Asia News Network