Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay has taken a key decision to further expand the free breakfast scheme provided to government school students. The scheme, which was currently being implemented for classes 1 to 5, will also be extended to students of classes 6, 7 and 8 from Tuesday. On this occasion, it was announced that the name of the scheme will be changed from 'Chief Minister's Breakfast Scheme' to 'Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Breakfast Scheme', the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and a provider of education reforms.

CM Vijay formally launched the expansion program at a government school in Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai. On this occasion, he himself served breakfast to the students and sat down to eat with them. About 15.3 lakh additional students studying in 15,454 government and government-aided schools across the state will benefit from this expansion. The total number of beneficiaries under this scheme will reach 34.64 lakh.

The government has allocated an additional Rs. 217.63 crore for the current financial year for the expansion of the scheme. With this, the total annual budget of this scheme has increased to about Rs. 724 crore. In fact, this breakfast scheme was started in 2022 by M.K. Stalin, who was the Chief Minister during the previous DMK government, for primary classes. Now the new government led by Vijay has not only continued this scheme, but also increased its scope and named it after the late leader Kamarajar. Although

the implementation of this scheme has started across the state, it was temporarily postponed due to the election code of conduct in some districts due to by-elections. Many believe that naming this scheme after Kamarajar, who is known as the pioneer of the mid-day meal scheme in schools, is a way to honor his legacy.