Noon meal workers in Tamil Nadu flag slow recruitment process

COIMBATORE: Noon meal workers have alleged that even though the recruitment drive to fill up noon meal cooking assistant posts was completed in June 2025, there has been a delay in releasing the results.

They claimed that there were challenges in running noon meal centres in government schools due to higher vacancies for cooking assistant posts in most of the centers.

M Innasimuthu, district president of Tamil Nadu Noon Meal Workers Union, said, "Over 60,000 out of 1.5 lakh posts of cooks and cooking assistants have been lying vacant across Tamil Nadu. There has been no recruitment for the last six years. Due to the high number of vacancies at noon meal centres in panchayat unions, workers are facing struggles to prepare and deliver food to students.

After prolonged demand, the Social Welfare Department called for a recruitment drive in April, and certificate verification and final interviews were held in June. Almost three months have passed, but the results and job orders have been delayed."

He said more than 35,000 cooking assistant posts are lying vacant across the state.

A noon meal staff working in the panchayat union said, "Due to staff shortage, we have been facing hardships to manage the situation every day. With cooks and cooking assistants absent, we are forced to hire workers for cooking. The situation is getting worse due to the high number of vacancies. The district has a vacancy of 771 cooking assistant posts."

A senior official in noon meal programme in Coimbatore district said, "After the interview process, we have sent a list of shortlisted candidates to the secretariat in Chennai. We have told that the job orders will be issued by October."

It may be noted that Class 8 pass is the minimum educational qualification for the post, and the consolidated pay is Rs 3,000 per month.