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In an announcement, the Tamil Nadu Government allocated Rs 500 crore for the breakfast scheme for students of government schools.

During his budget speech, Finance minister Palanivel Thiaga said the free breakfast scheme for primary students led to a boost in attendance of the students.

The finance minister presented the Budget 2023-2024 in the Assembly. Abling the Budget, he said, reform initiatives led to a reduced revenue deficit from around Rs 62,000 crore to Rs 30,000 crore.

Fare-free travel facilities for females in state-run buses and a breakfast scheme for government school students are among the several initiatives being implemented.

The free breakfast scheme will be extended to almost all schools- from 1500 to 30,430 government schools. The finance minister added that the breakfast scheme covering 18 lakh students- led to raised attendance between 10-30% in primary schools.

The Minister informed that setting up a hi-tech global sports city in Chennai, a Rs 5 crore grant to translate Dr. BR Ambedkar's creations into Tamil, and Rs 25 crore for factory skill schools and Metro rail projects for Coimbatore and Madurai.

He said the government would construct classrooms, laboratories, and toilets for Rs 1,500 crore in the upcoming years.

An analysis by the Delhi-based think-tank, Centre for Policy Research’s Accountability Initiative revealed that the central government released only 52% of the total funds dedicated to Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman Scheme (PM POSHAN) in FY 2022-2023. It had released only Rs 5,363.28 crore of the Rs 10,314 crore allotted to the PM POSHAN by November 30.