Tamil Nadu to expand breakfast scheme across the state within a year

Buoyed by the initial response, the Tamil Nadu government plans to expand the Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme for students from class one to five to all government schools in the state within the next one year.

The scheme, under which students studying in over 1,500 government schools across the state are provided “hot and nutritious” breakfast before the start of their classes, was launched by Chief Minister M K Stalin on September 15, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of DMK founder C N Annadurai.

Top functionaries of the government told DH that the scheme has received “overwhelming response” from students and parents following which plans are afoot to expand it to the rest of the state.

“We want to assess the scheme for a few more weeks following which we will draft a detailed plan on feeding lakhs of children in the morning. Though the state has enough funds and infrastructure to implement such a large-scale scheme, we are waiting to see whether any discrepancies crop up so that they can be rectified while expanding,” a source in the know said.

Expanding the scheme to the rest of the state will not be a “major issue” as the government feels it has enough expertise in the field having successfully pioneered the mid-day meals scheme, the source added. “We hope to expand it to the rest of the state in the next six to 12 months. Even if enough infrastructure like a kitchen isn’t in place in a particular area, it can be built in a couple of months,” the source added.

Another source said Stalin himself monitors the scheme every morning through a mobile application developed to give real-time information about the scheme like the time of opening of the kitchens that prepare breakfast, and dispatch of the food to various locations among others.

The source added that the government was keen that the food should be prepared in an hygienic manner and 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.

“We have tied up with a popular chain of restaurants to utilize its kitchen to prepare the breakfast for children in one of the northern districts. We also use the services of caterers in urban areas for the scheme. Only cooking is done at their kitchens as all items to prepare the food are provided by the government. We hope more people will join us,” the second source added.

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.

The scheme was announced by Stalin on May 7 on the first anniversary of his government after officials brought to his attention that many students come to school with an empty stomach in the morning without taking their breakfast.

While launching the scheme, Stalin made it categorical that the breakfast scheme was “not a freebie, charity, or incentive” but the responsibility of the government.

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 variety rice.