Tamil Nadu CM C Joseph Vijay on September 22 inaugurated the expansion of the state’s free breakfast scheme, which will now cover students from Classes 6 to 8 from government and government-aided schools. Named the Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Breakfast Scheme, this expanded scheme will cater to a further 15.30 lakh students from Classes 6 to 8.

The inauguration ceremony of the expanded scheme took place in a government middle school located in Gandhi Gramam in Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai. At the inauguration ceremony, C Vijay provided the students with their breakfasts and then dined with them. He also visited classrooms and engaged with the children there.

With this expansion, the scheme will cover children from Classes 1 to 8 in 44,984 government and government-aided schools, helping about 34.64 lakh children. An additional budget of ₹217.63 crore has been allocated by the state government for the expansion of this scheme, making the total budget allocated to the scheme to be around ₹724 crore.

The breakfast program was first started in 2022 for children in primary classes and has gradually been expanded in phases. As per the state government, the purpose behind this scheme is to tackle the issue of hunger in classrooms and increase the nutritional intake of children and enable them to come to school and study without the impact of hunger interfering with their education. Evaluations done by the government and reported by The Indian Express revealed that there have been improvements in attendance in most of the schools evaluated.

This marks an expansion of Tamil Nadu’s school nutrition program by incorporating middle-school children into the scheme. With the provision of free breakfast till Class 8, the state government has aimed to make sure that more children get a nutritious breakfast before starting their school day.