California: Like Tamil Nadu, the US state of California has started a free meal program for students studying in government schools and government-aided schools.
It will be implemented as a free breakfast and lunch program for school students. The name of this scheme is Universal Meals. With this, California became the first US state to offer free school meals to students. The bill for this project was passed in the Provincial Assembly last July. Following this, this scheme has been implemented in schools since yesterday.
Rising food costs, inflation and epidemics have led to an increase in the number of children affected by hunger in the province. According to data from Feeding America, 13 million children, or one in six, will face food insecurity in 2021.
The state government of California has started a free food program to ensure that the education of students is not affected by malnutrition. According to the State Government of California, nutritious meals will be provided to students in both morning and evening. Though initiated by the provincial government, the project will be implemented with the help of sponsors, it said.