The breakfast scheme for government primary schoolchildren was launched in the district on Friday.
After Chief Minister M.K. Stalin launched the scheme in Madurai on Thursday, it was rolled-out in schools in the Corporation limits on Friday.
Palayamkottai MLA M. Abdul Wahab, by serving breakfast to the children of Corporation primary school at Perumalpuram in Palayamkottai, inaugurated the scheme in the district in the presence of Collector V. Vishnu, Corporation Commissioner V. Sivakrishnamurthy, , Nanguneri MLA Ruby R. Manoharan, District Revenue Officer C. Jayashree, Tirunelveli Corporation Mayor P.M. Saravanan, Deputy Mayor K.R. Raju and Chief Educational Officer Subhashini.
A total of 2,246 children studying in 22 government schools within the Corporation limits will be benefited through this scheme. Each student will be served up to 200 grams of food and 60 ml ‘sambar’ with vegetables.
“We’ve created a common kitchen near Melapalayam Zone of Tirunelveli Corporation for preparing the food from where the breakfast packed in hotboxes will be taken to the schools in three vehicles. Breakfast will be served to the children between 8.15 a.m. and 8.50 a.m.,” Mr. Vishnu said.
Since a dedicated mobile app has been activated for monitoring arrival of personnel to prepare food in the morning, preparation of food, distribution of the breakfast etc., the distribution officer will upload the photos of the distribution and serving of breakfast to the children in the app.
“On an average, 100 students per school will be served breakfast in the Corporation limits everyday. The quality of food and the timing of serving of breakfast will be checked by school-level committees that comprises of Corporation officials also,” Mr. Vishnu said adding that the scheme would be extended to the government schools in the rural areas of the district through the local bodies concerned in the next phase.
Mr. Vishnu, who has instructed the heads of the beneficiary schools, to test the quality of breakfast everyday, has made arrangements for preparing this breakfast with the locally available traditional small foodgrains at least twice a week, which in turn will also provide marketing for farmers cultivating rain-fed crops. The Collector has also instructed the officials attached to the Food Safety Department to check the kitchen where the breakfast for the children is prepared, quality of food etc.
In Thoothukudi, children of 66 government primary schools in the district would be benefited, District Collector K. Senthil Raj said. Thoothukudi MP Kanimozhi inaugurated the scheme in the Corporation primary school at Tooveypuram in the presence of Dr. Senthil Raj, Minister for Social Welfare P. Geetha Jeevan, Corporation Commissioner T. Charusree and Mayor Jegan Periyasamy.
Ms. Geetha, a former teacher, said good number of students skip breakfast everyday as they have to reach the school before 9 a.m. and some students used to swoon as they did not breakfast.
“This scheme will effectively address this issue as breakfast is the most essential meal of the day,” Ms. Geetha said, adding that students of eight schools within the Corporation would be served breakfast.
In Kanniyakumari district, Collector M. Aravind inaugurated the scheme in the government primary school at Chettikulam in the presence of Nagercoil Corporation Mayor R. Mahesh and Corporation Commissioner Anand Mohan. The common kitchen for preparing the breakfast for the children has been established on the Water Tank Road.
“The scheme will benefit children in 19 government primary schools within the Corporation limits,” said Mr. Aravind.
Tenkasi District Collector P. Akash inaugurated the breakfast scheme in the primary school at Naduvaikurichi Major village on Friday. A total of 2,181 students studying in 65 government schools will be benefited in Tenkasi district.
