Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin initiated the expansion of the state government’s breakfast program for school children on Friday in Tirukkuvalai district. At a local school, the Chief Minister personally served meals to the children and participated in breakfast with them.

Simultaneously, his son and cabinet minister Udhayanidhi Stalin launched the expansion of the scheme in Chennai.

The Chief Minister had previously announced on June 7, 2023, that the breakfast program would be extended to encompass all 31,008 government primary schools across both urban and rural areas of Tamil Nadu, with the aim of benefiting 15.75 lakh primary students. The Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme was already catering to 1.14 lakh students in Classes 1 to 5 in 1,545 government primary schools, providing breakfast on all working days.

The decision to expand the scheme was taken based on the favorable outcomes observed during the initial phase. The overarching goal is to ensure that children attend school without facing hunger, as stated by the government.

Stalin encouraged elected representatives to inaugurate the extension of the plan in government primary schools within their respective constituencies. In his Independence Day speech, the Chief Minister had announced the expansion of the free breakfast scheme.

During the launch of the breakfast scheme in Madurai on September 15, 2022, Stalin invoked the words of late leaders Periyar E V Ramasamy, CN Annadurai, and M Karunanidhi, emphasizing that no barrier, be it poverty or caste, should hinder access to education.

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