Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Thursday, September 25, announced a free breakfast scheme for children in government schools that will be introduced from the coming academic year. CM Revanth said that the scheme was inspired by the success of the breakfast scheme implemented in Tamil Nadu, which pushed more children to attend school.
Speaking at the ‘Kalviyil Sirantha Tamil Nadu’ event in Chennai, Revanth praised Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin and added that Telangana will introduce nursery and kindergarten classes in government schools while also providing transportation facilities for school going children.
The Telangana CM also announced that the state would provide cash assistance of Rs 2,000 per month to students of Advanced Technology Centres (ATCs), inspired by TN’s Pudhumai Penn and Tamil Pudhalvan schemes that offer Rs 1,000 as monthly assistance to government school students pursuing higher education.
“Every Indian child must have the opportunity to dream big and access world-class education,” CM Revanth stated.
In October 2023, a month before the Telangana Assembly polls, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) led state government had launched the Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme for students studying in government schools across the state. However, following Congress victory in the state, the scheme was derailed but has been reintroduced now. “So, it took six months, and a trip to Tamilnadu, for wisdom to dawn upon Revanth! Glad the Telangana government is restarting a good scheme again,” BRS leader KT Rama Rao said.
Referring to a Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission report, KTR noted that the CM Breakfast Scheme in Tamil Nadu had led to a 63.2% reduction in hospital admissions among primary school children and a 70.6% decline in serious illnesses.