Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on 25th August 2023 has launched the second phase of the Chief Ministers Breakfast Scheme in government schools across the state
He inaugurated the programme at Panchayat Union Middle School in Thirukkuvalai ,Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu . He shared a meal with a group of students there.
In this phase an additional 31,000 government schools will be covered benefiting an estimated 17 lakh students. The total expenditure is expected to be Rs 404 crores.
Speaking on the occasion Stalin said the scheme aims to reduce hunger and hunger shall not be a barrier in education.
It was launched by the Tamil Nadu government on 15 September 2022. Under the first phase the scheme covered 1545 government schools benefiting an estimated 1.14 lakh students . Under the scheme students from class 1 to 5 in the government school are provided free nutritious breakfast from Monday to Friday.
The scheme will be extended in Phase wise to all the government primary schools in the state .
The government hopes just like mid day meal scheme ,it will motivate a lot of poor families to send their children to school ,also the scheme will help in eradicating nutritional deficiency among childrens
Tamil Nadu was the first state in India to introduce a mid-day meal in the country .
The Mid-day meal scheme in schools was first introduced in 1921 in Madras and in 1956 the Chief Minister K.Kmaraj extended the scheme to all the schools in the State..