CHENNAI: The state government is set to expand the Chief Minister’s breakfast scheme to government-aided schools in urban areas in the state. With this, all government and government-aided schools will be covered under the scheme.
According to officials in the school education department, the expansion will be rolled out on July 15, marking the birth anniversary of former chief minister K Kamaraj, which is also celebrated as Educational Development Day.
The elementary education directorate has sent a list of 1,416 schools, almost all of which are government-aided schools in urban areas to the district officials.
They have been asked to check if any school has been left out from this list and send a report to the directorate to facilitate the implementation of the scheme.
At present, 17.53 lakh students in 34,987 government and government-aided schools are benefiting from the scheme. Launched in September 2022, it was extended to all government schools by March 2023. In the 2024-25 academic year, the breakfast scheme was further expanded to include government-aided schools in rural areas.
In the latest budget, Rs 600.25 crore was earmarked for the scheme while it is expected to increase further with the expansion. Under the scheme, students are provided breakfast items such as upma, kichadi, and pongal, accompanied by sambar.