Free breakfast scheme for Corpn school kids launched

The scheme will be expanded to cover 5,000 children in government schools in next two months and 20,000 from the next academic year. To begin with, the menu would comprise of south Indian dishes such as upma, idli or pongal served with sambar.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation will cook the breakfast and deliver it to the schools for free and it will be served before classes start.

“We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Corporation for implementing the scheme. During the first phase, 23 schools will be covered where about 5,000 students at primary and middle level will get breakfast,” Sudama Vipra Dasa, spokesperson of Akshya Patra told DT Next.

According to him, each student will get three idlies and 250 grams of pongal or upma along with sambar. “We are planning to introduce other food items including cakes, chappathi, puri and khichdi,” he said adding that they are establishing a modernised kitchen to serve more students.

Stating that Tamil Nadu’s mid-day meal programme was the inspiration for Akshaya Patra when it began the scheme in Bengaluru in 2000, Sudama Vipra Dasa claimed that Akshaya Patra’s mid-day meal scheme is the world’s largest (not-for-profit run) school lunch programme, serving wholesome food to over 1.76 million children from 14,702 schools across 12 states in India.

He said most of the city schools owned by the government will be covered under the breakfast programme in the coming years. A senior official from the Corporation said that members of Akshya Patra came to Raj Bhavan and expressed interest to play a role in meal programme in the State.

R Rajagopal, Additional Chief Secretary to Governor suggested that they should implement a scheme to provide breakfast for schoolchildren as the State already has a well-run noon meals programme. Governor Banwarilal Purohit inaugurated the Kaalai Unavu Thittam at a school in Tiruvanmiyur.