CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Women Development Corporation has released a standard operating procedure (SOP) for implementing the expansion of the Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Breakfast Scheme (PKBFS) for classes 6 to 8 in government and aided schools.
As per the SOP, members of self-help groups (SHGs) will cook and serve breakfast. Selected members must have at least three years’ experience in an SHG under the State Rural Livelihoods Mission, reside in the same village or town panchayat, and have basic knowledge of food preparation. Their children must also study in the same school.
Members must have studied up to Class 10, with relaxation to Class 8 in hilly, remote and tribal areas. They must also own an internet-enabled Android phone and have a record of regularly repaying bank or federation loans.
Selected SHG members must undergo cooking-skills and food-safety training before the scheme begins. Training on the approved menu, hygienic food handling, safe cooking, maintaining registers and uploading data through the PKBFS mobile application is mandatory and must be completed 15 days before implementation.
The guidelines prescribe a daily schedule, with cooking beginning at 6 am and ending by 8 am. Hot breakfast should be served between 8 am and 9 am, after which SHG members must clean the utensils and leave the school premises by 9.30 am.
The SOP bars local procurement of key ingredients such as rice, salt, oil and pulses, which must be sourced only through the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation. Vegetables can be purchased locally or grown in school or panchayat vegetable gardens.
Schools with fewer than 10 students need not have separate kitchens and can be mapped to nearby larger centres. An SHG member delivering food to such schools will receive `1,500 as a distribution charge. The SOP mandates daily registers, mobile-app reporting with photographs, regular inspections, food-sample preservation, third-party evaluation and social audits.
