Chennai Corporation Chairman Sir Pitti Thiagarayar launched the mid-day meal programme. And the world’s first lunch was served on September 16, 1920 in Chennai.
Explaining the rationale behind the move, the then Chennai Corporation Chairman and one of the founders of the Justice Party, Sir Pitti Thiagarayar, said it affected the strength of poor students studying in the school ‘to a great extent’. At that time there were only 165 students in the school. Following the addition of four more schools to the scheme, the total enrollment of the five schools rose from 811 in 1922-23 to 1,671 in 1924-25.
Permission was sought to provide food to corporation school students not exceeding one anna per student per day. The British government disallowed expenditure from the Elementary Education Fund, thereby ending the scheme on April 1, 1925. Two years later, it was revived with 1,000 poor students in 25 schools. Writer R. Kannan, ‘Anna: The Life and Times of C.N. In his book ‘Annadurai’, Sir Pitti called Thyagaraya the ‘Father of Midday Meal Scheme’.
After independence in 1957, the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, K. Kamaraj, introduced a 200 days a year mid-day meal program in all primary schools across the state. In 1982, the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Dr. M.G. Ramachandran announced a scheme to ensure nutritious food for students in primary schools.
Children aged 2-5 years and 5-9 years were covered from July 1982. In September 1982, the scheme was extended to urban areas. In 1984, it was extended to all children between the ages of 10-15. In June 1989, the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi, introduced the scheme of giving eggs every fortnight.
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In 2007, boiled eggs were served three days a week. In 2010, students who did not eat eggs were given boiled eggs five days a week and bananas. Around 5.7 million students benefited from this. In 2013, the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Ms. J. Jayalalitha added variety of dishes with spiced eggs according to children’s preferences.
The nutrition scheme is currently implemented in 43,243 mid-day meal centers serving 48.57 lakh students daily. It provides hot cooked nutritious meals to children aged 5-9 years in the primary category and 10-15 years in the upper primary category five days a week for a total of 210 days in a year.
Children enrolled in National Child Labor Program Special Schools in 16 districts of Kanchipuram, Vellore, Thiruvannamalai, Namakkal, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Salem, Coimbatore, Erode, Tirupur, Tiruchirappalli, Dindigul, Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Chennai also receive hot cooked food for 312 days in a year. A variety of nutritious food is provided.
Primary school students (Class 1 to 5) are provided with 100 grams of rice per child per day and middle school and high school children (Class 6 to 10) with 150 grams of rice.
Chief Minister M.K.Stalin announced the Chief Minister’s Breakfast program to celebrate the first anniversary of the government in May 2022. “A study suggests that many children who start school skip breakfast. They miss breakfast not only because of the distance they have to travel but also because of poverty and hardships at home. So we are starting this project…” he said regarding the project.
After signing the order for the free breakfast scheme, Chief Minister Stalin said that his satisfaction knows no bounds and henceforth Tamil Nadu will be an example to the world. He said that this is a dream project and said that this project will help poor children complete their education. Stating that this is a Dravidian model, he said that there is no doubt that other governments will adopt this special Dravidian model scheme.
The Chief Minister’s Breakfast Program aims to ensure that children come to class without an empty stomach, reduce malnutrition among children, reduce anemia-iron deficiency among children, increase overall student enrollment rate and school retention, support working parents and take care of their children.
In 2022-23, the Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme will be implemented in 1,545 government primary schools at a total cost of Rs 33.56 crore to benefit more than 1.14 lakh children studying in classes 1 to 5 across the state. The norms of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) are mandatory for execution of the scheme. Caretakers and school management teams are responsible for ensuring the quality and taste of food on a regular basis.
Through such efforts, the Tamil Nadu government has marked 100 years of history and demonstrated maternal care by reducing the hunger of young children. A lot of attention has been given by our leaders to the development of young people. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has registered yet another milestone by launching the new free breakfast scheme. Children can enter the classroom with a full stomach and an active mind. Children studying in schools are a treasure because they are the future of the country. Thus, the Government of Tamil Nadu has taken another significant step in ensuring the health and education of school children.
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