Tamil Nadu extends its school breakfast scheme to Classes 6 to 8

Tamil Nadu has extended its school breakfast scheme to Classes 6 to 8 in government and government-aided schools, bringing an additional 15.30 lakh students into a programme that until now covered the primary years.

The numbers

• 15.30 lakh additional students covered by the expansion.
• An additional allocation of ₹217.63 crore in the current financial year.
• The scheme now reaches about 34.64 lakh students in Classes 1 to 8.
• Total allocation for the scheme: ₹724 crore.

How the food actually gets made

The delivery arrangement is the part worth noticing, because it is what makes a scheme of this size work or fail:

• In Chennai, breakfast is prepared through integrated kitchens run by the city corporation.
• In other urban areas, the Directorate of Municipal Administration oversees arrangements.
• In rural areas and adjoining town panchayats, breakfast is prepared at the schools themselves by self-help group members, through the state's corporation for the development of women.

That last arrangement does two jobs at once: it feeds children and it pays women in the same village to do it.

Why Classes 6 to 8 is the right extension

Middle school is where Indian dropout rates start climbing, particularly for girls, and where the gap between children who eat breakfast and children who do not shows up most sharply in attention and attendance. A child who arrives at school hungry at eight in the morning has usually lost the first two periods before the teaching starts.

There is a reasonable argument that a state's education budget should go to teachers and laboratories rather than to food. The counter-argument is simple arithmetic: a laboratory is worth nothing to a child who is not in the room, and the cheapest way to keep children in the room turns out to be breakfast.

CareerBox News Desk, reporting on the expansion of the school breakfast scheme to Classes 6 to 8 announced by the Government of Tamil Nadu. Official portal: tnschools.gov.in. Dates and eligibility change; confirm them on the official portal before you act.