Breakfast scheme launched in southern districts; common kitchens established for preparing food

TIRUNELVELI

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.