PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss expressed his concern over the reports of a study that revealed that 46 percent of children of the state have suffered from malnutrition and related problems. Hence, he urged the Education Department to increase the lunchtime in the schools to enable the students to have their meals without hurrying through it.
He added that a large number of children suffered from diabetes as well. Ramadoss further stated that all these problems were caused due to the reduction of lunchtime in schools. The lunchtime which used to be over an hour in earlier times has now reduced to only 30 minutes in most of schools.
Even these 30 minutes have been occupied by the teachers in most of the schools resulting in students being left with very little time to have their lunch. Most of the students either skip their lunch or have only a portion of the lunch, he said. The government should ensure at least one period to be allocated for sports or physical exercise, he suggested.
