Breakfast with School Children: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay expanded the state’s free breakfast program on Tuesday to include students from classes 6 to 8 in government and government-aided schools. With this move, approximately 15.30 lakh additional children have been brought under the ambit of this welfare scheme, which originally began four years ago for primary school students.
Chief Minister Vijay inaugurated the expanded ‘Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Breakfast Scheme’ at the Chennai Middle School in Gandhigramam, Thiruvanmiyur, where he sat down to have breakfast with the school children. According to the state government, this expansion covers an additional 7,537 government and government-aided schools, with an extra allocation of ₹217.63 crore for the current fiscal year.
With this new expansion, approximately 34.64 lakh students across classes 1 to 8 in 44,984 government and government-aided schools will receive breakfast; a total of ₹724 crore has been allocated for this purpose.
The government stated that the objective of this expansion is to improve the nutritional status of children, prevent students from attending classes on an empty stomach, and enable them to focus better on their studies. The government described the program as one that integrates nutrition, attendance, and the learning process, while also aiding in the children’s education and social advancement.
At that time, the DMK government, led by the then Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, had launched the ‘Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme’ for school children
The program has expanded significantly since its inception in 2022. At that time, the DMK government, led by the then Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, had launched the ‘Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme’ for school children in classes 1 to 5. Stalin had announced the scheme on May 7, 2022, marking the first anniversary of his government.
The first phase involved approximately 1.14 lakh children from 1,545 schools and incurred an expenditure of ₹33.56 crore. Launched in September of that same year, the program included dishes such as upma, khichdi, pongal, and, on certain days, rava or vermicelli kesari.
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