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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Tuesday launched the expanded Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Free Breakfast Scheme at the Government Middle School in Gandhi Gramam, Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai, and was seen distributing food to students.
Vijay interacted with the school children during the launch and distributed breakfast to them as the state rolled out the expanded version of the scheme. Under the expansion, the free morning meal programme, which was earlier available to students from Classes 1 to 5, will now cover students from Classes 6 to 8 as well. The expansion is expected to benefit around 15.30 lakh additional students across 15,454 government and government-aided schools in Tamil Nadu. The state government has allocated an additional Rs 217.63 crore for the current financial year for the expansion, taking the total budget of the programme to Rs 724 crore. The scheme, earlier known as the Chief Minister's Breakfast Scheme, has been rechristened the Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Free Breakfast Scheme in honour of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Kamaraj, who played a significant role in expanding access to school education and strengthening the state's school meal initiatives. The statewide rollout of the expanded programme begins on Tuesday, except in Chengalpattu and Tiruppur districts, where implementation has been deferred due to the Model Code of Conduct in view of the upcoming Assembly by-elections. The breakfast programme is aimed at providing nutritional support to schoolchildren and addressing classroom hunger, with the state government also highlighting its role in improving attendance and helping students concentrate on their studies. With Tuesday's expansion, students in Classes 6 to 8 have also come under the coverage of the scheme, extending the state's morning meal support to a larger section of government and government-aided school students. (ANI)
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