New Delhi: Tamil Nadu chief minister C. Joseph Vijay on Monday (June 15) has announced that the state’s Free Breakfast Scheme will be expanded to cover students from classes six to eight in all government schools. It is scheduled to start on September 17, which is the birth anniversary of social reformer E.V. Ramasamy Periyar, considered one of the five ideological icons of Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK).The move is expected to bring an additional 15 lakh students under the scheme, pushing the total number of school children availing the scheme to roughly 45 lakh, Deccan Herald reported.Vijay made the announcement at a review meeting of the Social Welfare Department.Also read: Tamil Nadu CM Vijay Takes a Cue from DMK on National Education Policy“To expand the chief minister’s Breakfast Scheme, instructions were issued to take steps to launch the first phase on September 17,” an official release stated.Notably, extending the scheme beyond the existing classes one to five coverage was a poll promise made by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) ahead of the last assembly elections.The scheme, originally introduced by the previous DMK government in 2022, currently serves upma, kichadi, or pongal on weekdays, with rava kesari or semiya kesari added to the menu on Fridays.Locally available millets feature on the menu at least twice a week. The government spends upward of Rs 13 per child on each breakfast, with around 30 lakh students currently eating under the programme daily, according to officials, the DH report added.Last August, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann lauded Tamil Nadu’s breakfast scheme during a visit to the state. He even went to government schools and served students breakfast while calling it an effective initiative to prevent school dropouts and improve children’s health and added that he would explore the feasibility of replicating the model in Punjab.