Coimbatore: Residents of Urumandampalayam near Thudiyalur and former students of the 94-year-old government primary school in the area, have come together to provide free breakfast to the students. They began the scheme on Tuesday to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and the death anniversary of former Tamil Nadu chief minister K Kamaraj.
Former students said they had gathered both alumni and old-time residents of Urumandampalayam and had devised a plan to make sure that the plan to provide free breakfast to the students would go on without hiccups. They further said they had prepared a list of dishes to be provided, spoken with a caterer in the locality and had decided the cost for providing them.
“Later we calculated the cost for providing the breakfast per month and selected 12 people to provide breakfast every month,” said U K Babu, 49, a farmer and businessman from the area, who would provide food to the students for October. He said there were 55 students in the school and the cost for providing them food for a day came around Rs 1, 200. For 22 working days per month, it would cost around Rs 28, 000. Babu said they had selected people who were ready and afford to help.
“We often see news reports saying students faint in the morning classes as they haven’t had breakfast. Private schools can afford to provide morning tiffin to their students. We thought Urumandampalayam residents and old students had to pitch in to help our school students,” Babu said.
Babu said the school’s alumni had earlier helped the school by constructing toilets. “Earlier 350 students had studied in the school, but now only 55 students are there. We also wanted our school to continue working and not locked up like other schools which were closed due to low student strength,” he added.
School authorities said the school was started in 1924 as a ‘Thinnai Pallikkoodam’ and later became a government-aided school. It became a government school in 2010.
