Breakfast Scheme Began In Tamil Nadu Government Schools

M K. Stalin, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, introduced the breakfast programme for students in classes 1 to 5 at government schools in Madurai on Thursday. He also served food to the kids.In his remarks during the program's inauguration, Mr. Stalin said that the programme would improve the lives of the impoverished and that it would go down in history.

He cited similar programmes in the US and Europe and claimed that numerous studies had found that such breakfast programmes increased student attendance and learning abilities.

He mentioned the vision of legendary leaders like Periyar E V Ramasamy, C N Annadurai, and M Karunanidhi was that nothing, even caste or poverty, should stand in the way of getting an education.Following in the footsteps of such leaders, Mr. Stalin claimed that realising their dreams brings him unbounded joy.

Social reformer Pandithar Iyothee Thassar planted the seeds for school lunches at the beginning of 1900, when the Colonel Olcott School began to take development in Chennai. According to Mr. Stalin, Mayor Pitti Theagarayar, a leader of the Justice Party, which served as the forerunner of the Dravidian movement, introduced the noon meal programme for the first time in a Chennai Corporation school in 1922.

The British government had suspended the noon meal programme months before independence, citing budgetary limitations. Former Chief Minister K Kamaraj began the midday meal programme in 1955, according to Mr. Stalin, who also described how the lunch programme in Tamil Nadu developed from that point forward.

Mr. Stalin claimed that while inspecting government schools in Chennai, he discovered that many students arrived to the buildings without having eaten breakfast. Given this possibility, he asserted that it is inappropriate for kids to learn when they are hungry, which is why the breakfast programme was introduced.

The main goals of the programme included giving children free access to food, preventing hunger and nutritional deficiencies, and ensuring that nutrients were enhanced while also lessening the load on working women.

With a budget of Rs 33.56 crore, the programme would be implemented in 1,545 schools overall, benefiting 1,14,095 kids throughout the state. The initial stage is now. Furthermore, at the Aadhimoolam Corporation Primary School in Madurai, the chief minister introduced the programme by serving breakfast to the students. He then sat with them on the floor and consumed food with them.