Tamil Nadu government on Friday announced the expansion of the Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme for students from class one to five to all government schools in the state gradually in the 2023-24 financial year and allotted Rs 4,000 crore for strengthening and upgrading roads at the Union Panchayat level.
Making a slew of announcements while replying to the Motion of Thanks to Governor’s address, Chief Minister M K Stalin said the breakfast scheme is being appreciated by people from all walks of life and that the scheme has also increased attendance of students in government schools.
“Based on this, this has been decided to extend the scheme to all government schools gradually across the state in 2023-2024. Students from class one to five will be provided nutritious breakfast,” Stalin told the Assembly.
The scheme, which was launched on September 15 on the occasion of the birth anniversary of DMK founder C N Annadurai, is now being implemented in over 1,500 government schools across the state. Spending Rs 12.75 for a child to provide breakfast, the scheme is not just aimed at taking care of the nutritional needs of school-going children but also ensures the daily attendance of students.
In his speech, Stalin also said the government is introducing the ‘Chief Minister’s Road Development Scheme’ to enhance and upgrade roads at the Union Panchayat level. “In the first phase, 10,000 km of roads will be enhanced and upgraded at Rs 4,000 crore,” Stalin added.
A top government official said expanding the breakfast scheme to the rest of the state will not be a “major issue” as the government has enough expertise in the field having successfully pioneered the mid-day meals scheme. The source added that the government was keen that the food should be prepared hygienically and has deployed IoT and Automation from start-ups in the state.
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. However, the then-British regime stopped a few years later citing a lack of resources.
The scheme was then relaunched by Congress Chief Minister K Kamaraj in 1957 and expanded to the entire state. Then came M G Ramachandran who expanded it further by providing nutritious meals to children between 2 to 9 years old. M Karunanidhi added eggs on all days to the menu and bananas for children who don’t eat eggs, while Jayalalithaa introduced a different variety of rice.