Tamil Nadu weighs chicken biryani in government school meals

The proposal to include chicken biryani in the diet of children studying in Tamil Nadu's government schools is back under discussion. The government is considering the idea of giving students chicken biryani once a week. However, it plans to first run this as a pilot project rather than roll it out across the entire state at once. So even if the proposal is approved, the scheme will not begin in all schools immediately; it will first be tested on a limited scale.

School Education Minister A. Rajmohan said that hygiene and food safety would be the first concerns examined. Whether the systems needed to cook biryani for such large numbers of students, deliver it to schools safely and on time, and maintain food quality can be properly set up will first be checked through the pilot project. Checking whether hygiene rules are followed while preparing food for such large numbers of students, and whether the food reaches schools on time without spoiling, will be the main part of this pilot. Only if the trial succeeds will a decision be taken on whether to implement the scheme on a large scale.

Defending the scheme, Rajmohan raised a different point. He asked why, if inmates at Puzhal prison are given chicken biryani, students should not get it too. Rajmohan said Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay also wanted students to be given such an option.

The proposal has not come up suddenly. The idea of giving chicken biryani once a week in the midday meals of government schools had already come up in July 2026. At that time too, Rajmohan had said he had sent the proposal to the Chief Minister and made clear that the Chief Minister alone would take the final decision on it. In other words, the discussion that began in July is now moving forward again, with the responsibility for the final decision still resting with the Chief Minister.

The School Education Minister also raised the point that growing children need adequate protein. He said changes have been made to Tamil Nadu's school nutrition programme from time to time, and along the same lines, a non-vegetarian option is now being considered. He noted that students need sufficient protein for their physical growth, and it was this thinking that led to the idea of including a non-vegetarian option in the meal programme.

Even if the scheme is implemented, chicken biryani will not be compulsory for all students. Children who eat vegetarian food will continue to get a vegetarian option as before, while students who eat non-vegetarian food may be given chicken biryani as a new option. In other words, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian students will have the freedom to choose their meal according to their preference, and no single type of meal will be imposed on anyone.