Unused classrooms may become dining halls for mid-day meals

Social Welfare, School Education Departments hold meeting to discuss proposal.

The Social Welfare and the School Education Departments are looking to have dedicated dining halls in schools to serve mid-day meals for children.

A meeting was held by the officials of the departments about the proposal to convert unused classrooms into dining rooms.

School Education Director S. Kannappan told

The Hindu that they are preparing a list of schools across the State where the project could be implemented.

“We have asked officials to select one higher secondary school in every block which has empty classrooms that can be converted into dining rooms. The detailed list will be handed over to the Social Welfare Department,” he said.

The Social Welfare Department is expected to take the initiative forward. The School Education Department too for a while has been mulling having dining rooms in bigger schools which have space to spare. The Presidency Girls Higher Secondary School in Chennai, a model government school, has a dining room for students with plastic chairs and tables and the walls painted colourfully.

V. Saravanan, a teacher from Ranipet and the deputy State president of the Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Association, said it would be a welcome initiative across all government schools. “At present, children eat their mid-day meals under trees or near playgrounds in schools and never inside their classrooms. In government schools which have a large campus and student strength, there are often classrooms which are not in use that can be converted into dining halls,” he added.