Breakfast now reaches Class 8: 34.64 lakh Tamil Nadu children to be fed before lessons begin
Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay extended the renamed Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Breakfast Scheme to Classes 6 to 8, adding about 15.30 lakh pupils in 7,537 more schools. The idea of feeding children at school in Madras goes back to a Justice Party leader in 1922.
Every child in Classes 1 to 8 at a government or government-aided school in Tamil Nadu is now entitled to a free breakfast. Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay on Tuesday extended the State's breakfast programme to Classes 6 to 8, bringing about 15.30 lakh more children into a scheme that began four years ago with primary pupils.
Mr. Vijay launched the expansion at the Chennai Middle School in Gandhigramam, Thiruvanmiyur, where he sat down to eat with students. The programme now carries the name Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Breakfast Scheme.
The numbers
According to the State government, the expansion covers 7,537 additional government and government-aided schools and has been allocated an additional ₹217.63 crore this financial year. In all, about 34.64 lakh pupils in 44,984 schools will receive breakfast, at a total allocation of ₹724 crore.
The government said the aim was to improve nutrition, stop children sitting in class hungry, and help them concentrate. It described the scheme as linking nutrition, attendance and learning.
How it grew
The programme was announced by the then Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on May 7, 2022, the first anniversary of the DMK government, as the Chief Minister's Breakfast Scheme for Classes 1 to 5. Its first phase, launched that September, covered about 1.14 lakh children in 1,545 schools at a cost of ₹33.56 crore, with a rotating menu of upma, kichadi, pongal and, on some days, rava or semiya kesari.
The reason was simple. Government studies had found that some children were arriving at school without eating, because they travelled long distances or because their families could not afford a morning meal.
The scheme was extended to corporation and municipal schools in February 2023, to all government schools in August 2023, to rural government-aided schools in July 2024, and to urban government-aided primary schools in August 2025. Before this week's expansion, coverage of Classes 1 to 5 had reached about 19.34 lakh pupils.
Does it work?
An early evaluation by the Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission looked at 1,543 schools after the scheme began. According to the Indian Express, 1,319 of them recorded higher attendance in January and February than in the preceding June and July. In 1,086 schools attendance rose by up to 20%, and in 22 schools by more than 40%. A comparison with 414 nearby schools, one to two kilometres away, found a stronger rise in attendance in schools that served breakfast.
The need is real. National Family Health Survey data for 2019–21 showed that 57.8% of Tamil Nadu children aged six to 59 months were anaemic.
A century-old idea
The breakfast scheme is the latest chapter in a long story, and it begins with the Justice Party. In 1922, P. Theagaraya Chetty, then president of the Corporation of Madras and a founder of the Party, introduced meals for poor children in selected city schools. About 800 pupils benefited between 1922 and 1925 before the programme was stopped under the British administration; it was restarted in 1927.
In 1956, Chief Minister K. Kamaraj of the Congress expanded school meals across the State for 200 days a year. M.G. Ramachandran turned it into the Nutritious Meal Programme in 1982. M. Karunanidhi's government added eggs in 1989, and J. Jayalalithaa's government introduced variety meals in 2013.
Each government has added to what the last one built. That continuity, more than any single launch, is why a child in Thiruvanmiyur or Tiruvarur can now count on two meals at school.