UP school children get salt, roti under scheme meant to up nutrition intake

Children at a government primary school in Uttar Pradesh’s Mirzapur district were on Thursday served only ‘chappatis’ and salt in their mid-day meal, a flagship scheme meant to provide nutrition to children. The incident comes days after a school in West Bengal served rice and salt to kids.

The midday meal scheme is a school meal programme of the government of India designed to better the nutritional standing of school-age children nationwide with an annual budget of ₹12,000 crore approximately.

The matter came to light when a video showing children being served only ‘chappatis’ went viral on social media and someone sent the video to the district magistrate.

The incident took place at government primary school, Shiur in Mirzapur. District magistrate Anurag Patel immediately instructed basic shiksha adhikari Praveen Kumar Tiwari to carry out a probe into the matter.

Swinging into action, Tiwari suspended the headmaster of the said school. He also sought an explanation from the block education officer of Jamalpur block and the in-charge of nyay panchayat resource centre in this regard.

“The basic shiksha adhikari (BSA) has been instructed to carry out a probe into the matter and ensure strict action against those responsible for it. There should be no laxity in it,” said the district magistrate. He said the basic shiksha adhikari had also been asked to give explanation for the lapse.

Bengal witnessed a similar incident a few days back when children in a girls school were served only rice and salt in their midday meal while an official notice put up by the authorities said the day’s fare would comprise rice, soya bean curry and dal. This happened at Bani Mandir School in Chinsurah. Two teachers were suspended after the incident.