TN launches statewide Children’s Day distribution drive

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay on Friday, November 13, launched a first-of-its-kind initiative to distribute cakes, greeting cards and sweet pongal to children across the State as part of the Children’s Day celebrations. The programme was organised a day ahead of Children’s Day, observed annually on November 14.

The initiative covered students studying in government and government-aided schools, as well as children attending anganwadi centres. It was introduced to extend the celebrations to children across different levels of education and early childhood care institutions.

According to official figures, a total of 61,84,566 beneficiaries received cakes under the programme. The beneficiaries included students, teachers and non-teaching staff from government and government-aided primary, middle, high and higher secondary schools across Tamil Nadu. The cake distribution was carried out at a total cost of ₹9.27 crore.

Alongside the school-based distribution, the government also arranged sweet pongal for young children enrolled in anganwadi centres. As many as 11,11,022 children between the ages of two and six, who receive pre-school education at these centres, were covered under the initiative.