The Midday Meals Scheme, a crucial lesson from Tamil Nadu to the rest of the world on improving literacy by addressing the hunger among poor students, has a rich history in the state, spanning more than a century. It was one of the schemes that was formulated by leaders cutting across political lines, standing as a shining example of how the stalwarts from the state wanted to ensure access to education for all, no matter the cost.
The idea was initiated in the 1920s by Justice Party leader P Theagarayar in a corporation school in the erstwhile Madras presidency. The Justice Party had come to power under the diarchy system introduced by the British government as the Congress party had boycotted the election due to the non-cooperation movement. Though the party had no financial powers under the diarchy, Theyagarayar introduced the scheme stating that it would bring poor children to schools.
After India gained independence, K Kamaraj, one of the most influential leaders of the Congress, became the Chief Minister of the state in 1954. He ushered in a revolution in education in the state by opening more schools and also expanding the midday meals scheme in 1956-57 which would improve the education standards in the state drastically.
Ironically, the spark for the expansion of the largest feeding programme in government schools can be traced back to the conference of private school administrators in the 1950s. While attending the conference, Kamaraj inquired about the impact of the midday meals scheme in corporation schools with the then director of school education ND Sundaravadivelu. Upon learning that student attendance doubled during weekdays when meals were provided and that the scheme cost one and a half annas per student, Kamaraj during his address declared that he would not hesitate to levy an additional tax to extend the programme to schools throughout the state. This speech set the ball rolling as an extension plan was prepared when schemes under the second five-year plan were discussed across the nation.
According to ND Sundaravadivelu’s book Kalvi Vallal Kamarajar, the scheme was already being implemented in 4,400 government schools in the state with contributions from people before the government started it officially. The initial plan to provide midday meals to the primary schools was envisioned at the cost of Rs 2 crore. Sundaravadivelu recalls how he stood his ground to get approval for the scheme from both state and central government officials with support from Kamaraj.
Kamaraj also made the then director inaugurate the scheme at a primary school in Ettayapuram, the birthplace of freedom fighter and poet Bharathi, instead of inaugurating the scheme himself. While the chief minister inaugurated the scheme in a few schools the next day, Kamaraj said that he would not hesitate to even visit every village to implement the important scheme.
For many years, the scheme was aided by the US voluntary organisation, CARE, and also contributions from local people. “There were around 16,000 primary schools housing 16 lakh students in Tamil Nadu when Kamarajar became the chief minister in 1954. At the end of his eight-year tenure, 48 lakh children studied in 30,000 primary schools. Of this, 16 lakh were being provided midday meals,” Sundaravadivelu states in his book.
The next significant evolution in the scheme was catalysed by AIADMK founder and former Chief Minister M G Ramachandran. Under his leadership, the midday meals scheme underwent substantial expansion, initially including children in anganwadis in 1982 under the name Chief Minister’s Nutritious Noon Meal Scheme. By 1984, the scheme’s scope was extended to include children up to 15 years. From around `5 crore, the state’s funding was increased to several hundred crores for which the government was even criticised.
The scheme was renamed as Puratchi Thalaivar MGR Nutritious Meal Programme by then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
DMK patriarch and former CM M Karunanidhi included eggs every fortnight to improve the nutritional value of the food in the late 1980s while banana was provided to those who don’t eat eggs. The frequency of eggs increased gradually and it reached five in 2010 during Karunanidhi’s term itself. Former AIADMK general secretary and Jayalalithaa introduced variety meals and masala eggs to add more flavour to the midday meals. While 13 kinds of variety menus with four different kinds of egg masala were introduced in 2013 in one pilot block of each district, it was extended to all places in August 2014.
The National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) was launched as a centrally-sponsored scheme on August 15, 1995, initially in 2,408 blocks in the country. It was extended to all blocks in 1997-98. The Supreme Court in a public interest litigation in 2001 ordered the central and state governments to ensure that all the government and government-aided schools provide midday meals to students. Following the order, the central government took up full responsibility for the cost of food grains, their transportation and the Monitoring, Management and Evaluation (MME) component. The scheme was renamed as the National Programme of Mid-Day Meals in Schools to cover children till class 8 in 2007.
The present Chief Minister MK Stalin in 2022 introduced a breakfast scheme in government primary schools across the state to improve the attendance and concentration of students. Since the majority of parents are daily wage labourers, they leave for work early and the children come to the schools hungry making it difficult for them to concentrate in classes. Many opine that with an increase in the number of working women from economically disadvantaged families, the scheme will reduce their time in the kitchen.
“The role of the noon meal scheme is important in bringing children to the schools and increasing the enrolment to nearly 100%. While the schools were open, the students didn’t come to them due to poverty. The scheme was started to bring poor children to schools. While the scheme was initially started to promote education, it also became nutrition-driven in the later years,” said J Jeyaranjan, economist and the vice-chairman of the State Planning Commission.