Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin will launch his government’s ambitious scheme to provide free breakfast for government school students from class one to five on September 15, the birth anniversary of DMK founder C N Annadurai.
The much-awaited scheme is seen as an extension of the mid-day meals scheme pioneered in the state in the 1920s, aimed at tackling nutrition deficiency among children. A top government official told DH that Stalin will launch the scheme in Madurai on September 15 on the occasion of Annadurai’s birth anniversary.
DH had in August reported that the scheme is likely to be launched on September 15. In the first phase, as many as 1.14 lakh children in over 1,500 schools run by the government in cities, towns, villages, and far-flung areas will be served hot breakfast before they begin to attend classes in the morning.
The government has asked district administrations to make necessary arrangements to cook breakfast in community kitchens or inside school premises and get them ready by 7:30 AM. The food will have to be served to students by 8:30 AM so that the classes can begin on time.
Students will be served upma, kichadi, or pongal from Monday to Friday, while rava kesari or semiya kesari will be added to the food menu on Friday. Millets will also be part of the menu for at least two days in a week, according to the menu released by the government.
The food will be served hot and necessary instructions have been given to authorities concerned to ensure that there are no complaints, the official said. He also added that district collectors have been asked to constitute committees to oversee the implementation of the scheme.
The scheme was announced by Stalin on the floor of the Tamil Nadu Assembly on May 7 coinciding with the first anniversary of his government.
The first phase of the scheme will be implemented in 1,545 schools benefitting 1.14 lakh children. Of the 1,545 schools, 417 are in cities, 163 are in towns/district headquarters, 728 in rural areas and 237 in far-flung/hilly areas.
Tamil Nadu has had a long history of providing food to students at schools -- the mid-day meals scheme, which is now being implemented across the country, was first conceived by the Justice Party dispensation which provided free meals to school children in government schools in Chennai.
The free breakfast scheme is an extension of the mid-day meals scheme which was bettered by successive post-Independence states governments led by K Kamaraj, M Karunanidhi, M G Ramachandran, and J Jayalalithaa.
While Kamaraj extended the mid-day meals scheme from Chennai to the rest of the state, MGR expanded it further by providing nutritious meals to children between 2-9 years old. Karunanidhi added eggs on all days to the menu and bananas for children who don’t eat eggs, while Jayalalithaa introduced variety rice.