NEW DELHI: Government school students in Tamil Nadu could soon see a new item on their lunch menu. The state government is considering a proposal to serve chicken biryani once every week under the midday meal scheme.
School Education Minister A. Rajmohan confirmed that the proposal has already been submitted to the Chief Minister and is currently being examined.
The idea was discussed during a consultation meeting held on Tuesday (July 28) with representatives from more than 80 teacher associations.
The meeting was organised ahead of the Tamil Nadu state Budget, which is scheduled to be presented on Aug 5.
Teacher associations suggest better food and more support
During the meeting, teacher associations placed several demands before the government. One of their key requests was to improve the quality of rice used in the midday meal scheme.
They also proposed adding chicken biryani to the weekly menu to make school meals more appealing for students.
The associations further requested that the Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme should be managed by noon meal workers. They also asked the government to regularise the services of these workers.
Decision likely after discussions with another department
According to senior officials in the department, any final decision on introducing chicken biryani will require discussions with the Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Department, as it is responsible for implementing the noon meal scheme.
Officials also indicated that the government may look at the proposal positively before taking a final call.
Demand to extend meal schemes up to class 12
Teacher associations also urged the government to expand both the Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme and the midday meal scheme to cover students studying up to Class 12.
At present, the breakfast scheme benefits students from Classes 1 to 8 and currently reaches around 32 lakh children following its recent expansion. The midday meal scheme is available only up to Class 10 and serves nearly 40 lakh students.
According to the associations, extending the noon meal scheme to Classes 11 and 12 would benefit an additional eight lakh students. They described this as a long-pending demand that deserves immediate attention.
Teachers seek changes to special TET rules
Another major issue discussed was the special Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), which became necessary after the Supreme Court ruled that TET is mandatory for eligible appointments.
Teacher associations requested the government to give weightage to teaching experience, reduce the qualifying marks and introduce a uniform pass mark for all communities.
A. Mayavan, founder-president of the Tamil Nadu High and Higher Secondary School Graduate Teachers’ Association, said the special TET is meant for the continuation of service and not for recruiting new teachers.
He argued that there is no legal restriction on giving marks for teaching experience or lowering the qualifying score.
Government promises faster action on demands
The associations also repeated long-standing demands such as implementing equal pay for equal work for secondary grade teachers and increasing maintenance grants for government schools.
Addressing the meeting, Minister A. Rajmohan assured the participants that every representation would be digitised and grouped by category to speed up the process of resolving them.
He said the government would prioritise the demands and make every effort to address as many issues as possible. - The Statesman/ANN
