MK Stalin Expands Free Breakfast Scheme For School Children In Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday launched the expansion of the state's pioneering free breakfast scheme for all government primary school students across the state. The chief minister marked the expansion by serving breakfast to school students in Nagapattinam's Tirukkuvalai and sat down to share a meal with the children. Mr Stalin's father, former Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi, was a student in Thirukuvalai.

"This is not just a fund allotment but an investment in our children's future. The Tanil Nadu government has invested to enhance students' minds and knowledge. This would definitely manifest in the form of talent and capacity-building which will profit the state," he said.

The initiative, which was launched in September last year, would benefit as many as 17 lakh children enrolled in over 31,000 schools in Tamil Nadu. The state government has allocated Rs 404 crore for this programme.

The chief minister had earlier asked elected representatives to launch the scheme's extension in a government primary school in their constituencies.

The scheme was expanded after the pilot programme that provided free breakfast to 1.14 lakh students in Classes 1 to 5 showed an increase in school attendance and improved the nutritional health of students in the state.

This initiative is the latest in a series of scheme launched by the state's governments to provide nutritional meals to school children. In 1921, the Justice Party introduced the noon meal scheme in Chennai, then under Madras Presidency. Since then, leaders and chief ministers, including Kamaraj, Karunanidhi, MGR, and Jayalalithaa, have contributed to expanding such free meal schemes.