New Delhi: Students at a government school in Tamil Nadu refused to eat food prepared by a Dalit woman as part of a government initiative to provide nutritious breakfast to children.

Dalit woman Muniyaselvi, a member of a self-help group, has been appointed as a cook at a government primary school in Usilampatti to prepare food for the prime minister’s breakfast programme.

Officials questioned Muniyaselvi about the surplus of food in the school. She added that nine out of 11 students refused to eat the breakfast prepared by her as their parents allegedly asked them not to do so due to her caste.

The woman said she did not report the incident to the authorities earlier because she did not want to force the student. Only when questioned by supervisory staff did she reveal her situation.

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The officials along with the police questioned the parents about the matter and the district information collection officer came to know.

DMK Minister Intervenes

DMK MP Kanimozhi, state minister Geetha Jeevan and district collector Senthil Raj visited the government school and had breakfast with the children.

This is the second such incident to occur in the state in recent days. Earlier this month, 15 students of a government primary school in Karur refused to benefit from the CM’s breakfast program because the food was prepared by a Dalit woman.

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The district collector visited the school and warned parents against legal action for caste discrimination. The Chief Minister’s Breakfast Program was launched by Chief Minister MK Stalin in August to provide nutritious breakfast to primary school students in Tamil Nadu to help them learn.

It provides free breakfast to 15.75 lakh students in government primary schools in the state.