The Tamil Nadu education department will be extending the free breakfast scheme to all primary schools in the state, IANS reported. According to officials from the school education department, one coordinator will soon be appointed for each educational district in the state for this purpose. The free breakfast scheme is a flagship programme of the DMK government under Chief Minister MK Stalin which was started in September 2022 to improve dropout rates in the state.
The scheme was earlier launched in 1,545 primary schools across Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs 33.56 crore and benefitted 1.14 lakh students in the first phase. Now, after the extension, the scheme is expected to cover 30,122 primary schools in the state and benefit 18 lakh students. The state government has already allocated an amount of Rs 500 crore for the project in the recent budget. The District Education Officers (DEOs) will be overseeing the programme. The state education department has also asked for the details of the number of students in each primary school and has directed teachers and school heads to be part of the programme which ensures that breakfast is provided to all primary school children in the state.