Stalin launches breakfast scheme in schools: ‘Not freebie, charity, it’s govt duty’

Tamil Nadu had pioneered the noon meal scheme in government schools, which was later replicated as mid-day meal across the country.

Stalin said he had decided to implement the breakfast programme following feedback during a recent school inspection in Chennai. “The students told me that they rarely eat breakfast. When I asked officials, they confirmed it. That’s when I asked them to implement the breakfast programme. Nobody should go to class on an empty stomach.”

He urged school officials and those in-charge of the scheme to see the beneficiaries as their own children. “We will feed you in the morning and at noon, my beloved children. You may please study, study, study without any worries… I am here for you… I want you to excel in all areas because that alone will make our Tamil society proud,” he said, reminding the children that education was their right.

Incidentally, the New Education Policy of the Modi government had also proposed introducing breakfast besides the mid-day meal in schools. However, the Ministry of Finance had vetoed the proposal, which was estimated to cost the exchequer around Rs 4,000 crore.

The DMK government hopes to cover approximately 1.14 lakh children under the breakfast scheme initially across the state, at a cost of Rs 33.56 crore. The number of schools is estimated at 1,545, including 417 in cities, 163 in towns and district centres, 728 in rural areas, and 237 in remote, hilly areas.

The breakfast menu will change daily and include a variety of items such as upma, khichdi, pongal, rava kesari, semiya kesari.

In his speech, Stalin referred to the start of the noon meal programme in 1922, by P Theagaraya Chetty, the then mayor of the Madras Corporation and a veteran leader of the Justice Party, which would go on to define Tamil Nadu politics.

To mark a century of that scheme, the government had planned the breakfast programme, the CM said.

While the British halted the noon meal scheme in the Madras Corporation, Stalin said, in 1956, then Congress CM K Kamaraj reinstated it in many districts. “We continued it after the DMK came to power. In the early 1970s, CM M Karunanidhi expanded it. Back then, children were served something called Baby Roti. When M G Ramachandran was the CM, he increased the funding and expanded it across the state,” Stalin said, adding that in 1989, Karunanidhi made one more important change by adding eggs to the school meal menu.

“Initially, it was one egg per week, then two. In 2007, he increased the number of eggs to three per week and added more nutritious items. By 2010, he had made eggs a part of the menu five days a week, with banana added for those who do not eat eggs,” Stalin said, also crediting his predecessor J Jayalalithaa with improving the scheme by adding varieties of rice.

“According to studies, schools that serve breakfast get more students. Breakfast’s importance in schools has grown significantly in the post-Covid era. I can see the joy in the eyes of children when they receive it in school,” said Stalin, who also had breakfast with the children at a Madurai school, squatting on the floor, including feeding some of them.

“There should not be any reason to deny educational opportunities to anyone. It is inspired by the same Dravidian ideal that class or caste should not be an impediment to growth,” the CM said.