Now, school kids to get free breakfast

CHENNAI: Akshaya Patra Foundation and the Greater Chennai Corporation on Monday rolled out Kaalai Unavu Thittam scheme, under which students in corporation schools will be served free breakfast daily ahead of classes.
According to corporation officials from the education department, the scheme has been planned to initially cover 5,000 students from across 23 corporation-run schools. On Monday, Tamil Nadu governor Banwarilal Purohit and state minister for fisheries and personnel and administrative reforms, D Jayakumar, inaugurated the scheme for 1,000 students studying at Chennai primary school and Chennai higher secondary school in Thiruvanmiyur, and Chennai primary school in Thiruvanmiyur Kuppam.

Either upma, idli, or pongal will be served to the students every day, said a representative of Akshaya Patra Foundation.

“By end of next month, 5,000 students will be covered under this scheme. Within the next academic year, we plan to roll out the scheme to 20,000 students studying in several corporation-run schools. Akshaya Patra Foundation will cook and deliver the food at these schools at their own cost. The plan is to bring all corporation school students under this scheme so that they are well-fed before their classes begin," said Sudama Vipra Dasa of Akshaya Patra Foundation.

There are 281 corporation-run schools in Chennai. The idea of a breakfast programme is said to be of R Rajagopal, additional chief secretary to the governor, taking the cue from the midday meal programme that was pioneered in Tamil Nadu, and later emulated across the country.