Free Breakfast Scheme to be extended to all primary schools in Tamil Nadu

Eleven months after it was launched on a pilot basis in 1,545 schools resulting in improvement in attendance of students in 90 per cent of them, the Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme will on Friday be extended to all primary school children studying in government schools in Tamil Nadu at an outlay of Rs 404 crore. 

Chief Minister M K Stalin will launch the scheme at a government middle school in Thirukkuvalai, the birth place of his father and late chief minister M Karunanidhi, in Nagapattinam district in the Cauvery Delta region at around 8.15 am. The ambitious scheme, which has won laurels from many sections of the society, was first rolled out in 1,545 schools benefitting 1.14 lakh children on September 15, 2022. 

The scheme will be extended to cover 15.75 lakh students of class one to five in 31,008 government schools across the state. The government has allotted Rs 404 crore for the extension of the scheme that provides breakfast to school children on all working days. 

Stalin asked MPs and MLAs cutting across party lines to launch the ambitious scheme in their constituencies. Viewed as an extension of the mid-day meals, which is now replicated across India and abroad, the Chief Minister’s Free Breakfast Scheme is aimed at tackling nutrition deficiency among children and ensuring their attendance in schools. 

Spending Rs 12.75 for a child to provide breakfast – the menu ranges from rava upma to Pongal to semiya upma to kesari – the scheme is not just aimed at taking care of the nutritional needs of school-going children but also ensures daily attendance of students. Millets available in the area will also be part of the menu for at least two days a week.

Officials said authorities have been asked to ensure that the food is cooked and served in a hygienic manner using quality ingredients and serve them to students only after the school management committee tastes it. They said committees have formed at various levels – state, district, and school --to monitor the implementation of the scheme.

“The scheme ensures that students don’t come to school with an empty stomach. Besides, it helps increase attendance and retention. We hope to prevent malnutrition, achieve average height in children, prevent underweight and anaemia in adolescents,” an official said. 

To ensure that the food is prepared in a hygienic manner, the government has deployed IOT and Automation from start-ups in the state. In urban areas, community kitchens have been identified to cook the breakfast and send them to various places, while Self-Help Groups have been roped in the rural areas.

A study conducted by the State Planning Commission found that 1,319 out of 1,543 schools where children are provided with breakfast since September 15, 2022 have shown an increase in attendance in the months of January and February when compared to June-July last year. 

“Beneficiary schools show consistent increase in attendance when compared to the neighbouring schools. Out of 414 schools, 258 neighbouring schools displayed a positive change as compared to 366 beneficiary schools; with none of the neighbouring schools having more than 20 per cent increase in attendance,” the report had said.

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 lack of resources.

The scheme was then relaunched by Congress Chief Minister K Kamaraj in 1957 and expanded it 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 variety of rice.