Students affected in getting regular free breakfast as noon-meal centre near Chengam town locked over dispute

Students in Tiruvannamalai school miss free breakfast due to dispute over cook's eligibility, leading to temporary solution by officials.

Students of the Government Primary School in Samanthipuram hamlet that comes under Pinjur village panchayat in Chengam taluk here have not been getting free breakfast under the Chief Minister’s Breakfast scheme since Monday after the cook and a parent locked the noon meal centre on the campus over a dispute.

School officials said that S. Renuka, 36, was appointed as the cook for the noon meal centre in the school by the Block Development Office (BDO), a year ago. She fulfilled the criteria for the job such as enrolling her children in the same school, studying upto Class X; availing a loan as a member of the local recognised SHG and having a smart mobile phone to register her daily attendance and upload work activities online.

“After completing class V, two children of the cook were enrolled in the Government Middle School in Pinjur village, around two km away, in June. This disqualified her from the job as a cook. However, she continued to work,” said S. Lakshmi, headmistress.

On August 17, Ms. Renuka cooked breakfast for all 38 students including 19 girls in the school built in 1955. She also kept a record of it by writing it on the board in front of the noon meal centre. Later, she locked the centre and left for the day.

On Monday, a group of residents led by B. Vajravelu, a farmer, approached the school authorities and demanded them to give the job to his wife, Senbagam, as their children still study in the school. After verifying the details, panchayat union officials rejected it because his wife did not have the educational qualification.

“Angered by this, Vajravelu put another lock on the already existing lock. As a result, we were unable to provide free breakfast. Students did not have their breakfast on Monday,” school authorities said adding that the breakfast was brought from the Government Middle School in Pinjur on Tuesday.

As a stop-gap measure, panchayat president S. Anandan roped in a local SHG member to cook breakfast for students on Wednesday until a permanent cook is appointed by the panchayat union. The two locks at the centre were removed.