VELLORE: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday said, "Education and health are the two eyes of our government," at a function that was held in Katpadi government boys higher secondary school in Vellore.
Stalin laid the foundation stone for the construction of new classrooms under the Perasiriyar Anbazhagan School Development Scheme.
Speaking on the occasion, Stalin said, "We have seen school children studying under trees and in classrooms that are in old, dilapidated, and unsafe conditions. So we put careful thought into formulating the scheme with the objective of providing a proper learning environment for the school kids, especially basic infrastructure.
Under this scheme, the state government has allocated Rs. 2,400 crores.
In the first phase, Rs. 784 crores will be utilized to construct 5351 new classrooms in 2381 panchayat union primary and middle schools in 36 districts.
It includes 114 new classrooms in 55 schools in all seven panchayat unions (Vellore, Katpadi, Gudiyatham, Anaicut, Kaniyambadi, Pernambut, and K.V. Kuppam) in the Vellore district will be constructed at a cost of Rs. 15.96 crore, he said.
"During inspections at various schools, I heard from children that they attended classes without having breakfast. Like the noon meal scheme, our government introduced the 'Breakfast scheme' on September 15 2022, so that children do not go hungry. The scheme has been implemented in some districts and it will be taken to the entire state soon."
Minister for Water Resources Durai Murugan, Minister for Rural Development I. Periyasamy, Minister for Higher Education K. Ponmudy, Minister for School Education Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, Minister for Handlooms and Textiles R. Gandhi, Arakkonam MP S. Jagathrakshakan, Vellore MP D.M. Kathir Anand, MLAs, district collector P. Kumaravel Pandian, Superintendent of Police S. Rajesh Kannan, and other officials were present.
Later in the day, the Chief Minister will be inaugurating two new blocks in Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), one of them named after the former CM M. Karunanidhi.
He is on a two-day visit to fort city which will be wrapped up on Thursday.