The Telangana Government on Friday issued orders to initiate the "Chief Minister's Breakfast Scheme" for students in classes 1 to 10 starting on October 24, Vijay Dashami Day. The scheme will be applicable to all students enrolled in government and local body schools on all school working days.
The government has allotted Rs 400 crore for the scheme. CM Chandrasekhar Rao also called the scheme a "Dussehra gift".
The scheme would be implemented in an effort to address the nutritional status of school-age children which has been a concern for a long time now and to lessen the workload on working mothers, said a GO.
The statement read, "The Director of School Education is urged to give a detailed action plan for the implementation of the initiative so that the scheme may be launched on Vijaya Dashami, which falls on October 24, 2023."
The well-being of women and children is the utmost priority of the state government. Since Telangana's founding, a number of programmes have been introduced for their welfare and well-being, changing social and health indices dramatically, said the order.
Earlier, a team of IAS officers from Telangana visited Tamil Nadu to examine the CM breakfast scheme implemented in the state. Based on the visit, the team submitted a report to the government.
However, KCR said that the scheme was implemented only for primary school children in Tamil Nadu. He said that the government was taking steps to help children focus on their studies better.
The children whose parents have to leave early for work, especially farmers and farm workers, go to school on an empty stomach since they do not get adequate breakfast, he said.
In Telangana, there are over 43,000 government schools where about 30 lakh students are enrolled.