Tamil Nadu’s midday meals scheme, conceptualised by the Justice Party in 1920 under the British regime and enhanced by successive state governments post-Independence, took on a new dimension on Thursday with the launch of a programme to provide free breakfasts for government school students from Class 1 to Class 5.
Chief Minister M K Stalin launched the ambitious scheme at a government-run school in the temple city of Madurai, 465 km from Chennai, and had breakfast with students. Viewed as an extension of the midday meal programme, which is now replicated across India and abroad, the Chief Minister’s Free Breakfast Scheme is aimed at tackling nutrition deficiency among children and ensuring their attendance at schools.
In the first phase, the scheme will benefit as many as 1.14 lakh children in 1,545 government-run schools in cities, towns, villages and far-flung areas. Of the 1,545 schools, 417 are in cities, 163 are in towns or district headquarters, 728 are in rural areas and 237 are in far-flung or hilly areas.
Instructions have been issued to the authorities concerned to serve hot breakfasts to schoolchildren by 8:30 am before their classes begin. Students will be served upma, kichadi or pongal from Monday to Friday, while rava kesari or semiya kesari will be added to the menu on Fridays. The local millets available in the area will also be part of the menu for at least two days a week.
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In his speech after launching the scheme, Stalin gave his assurance that the state's finances would never come in the way of implementing the free breakfast scheme and announced that it would be expanded gradually to other parts of the state.
"The government will spend Rs 12.75 per student to provide the breakfast," Stalin said. "But we don’t consider this an expense. We consider this a duty of the government. Moreover, I consider providing breakfast to students to ensure that they attend classes with a full stomach as my personal duty."
Referring to such schemes being implemented in the US, France and European countries, Stalin said researchers had found that providing nutritious breakfasts to students enhanced their learning skills while ensuring their attendance.
With the debate on 'freebies' probably weighing heavy on his mind, Stalin said that any spending on education, health and feeding the people should be beyond criticism. "Schemes like these are the face of this government and these programmes will have to be kept in mind while assessing the performance of this government," Stalin said, asking students to "concentrate only on their studies" as the administration had taken care of two square meals a day.
"Education is the only asset that can never be snatched from you," he said. "Keep studying and that is my only request to you." The chief minister also appealed to the officials, teachers and those working for the midday meals scheme to ensure that quality and nutritious food was served to the students.
Tamil Nadu has had a long history of providing food to students at schools - the midday meals scheme was first conceived by the Justice Party dispensation and provided free meals to schoolchildren at government schools in Chennai. The midday meals scheme was bettered by successive post-Independence state governments led by K Kamaraj, M Karunanidhi, M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa.
While Kamaraj extended the midday meals scheme from Chennai to the rest of the state, MGR expanded it further by providing nutritious meals to children aged between 2 and 9. Karunanidhi added eggs to the menu on all days and bananas for children who don't eat eggs, while Jayalalithaa introduced variety rice dishes to the menu.
Evolution of the free meal scheme:
1920: Justice Party government under the British launches the scheme in Chennai
1957: K Kamaraj extends the scheme across TN
1982: M G Ramachandran introduces nutritious midday meals scheme to schoolchildren
1989, 1998: M Karunanidhi adds eggs to the menu once in two weeks and later makes it one egg every week. In 2006, he announces five eggs will be served every week and asks that bananas be distributed to children who don't eat eggs.
2013: J Jayalalithaa adds variety rice dishes to the menu
2022: M K Stalin launches free breakfast scheme for schoolchildren