On May 27, a snakelet was found in the khichdi served to children of government-run Amouna middle school in Fobesganj of Bihar’s Araria district. As the news spread in the school, the distribution of the food was stopped. However, the students who had already eaten began vomiting and had to be rushed to a hospital. Over a hundred children fell sick after eating the food.
On May 28, a dead lizard was found in the mid-day meal (MDM) served to children in Chhatapur block of Supaul district in Middle School Thuthi. At least 48 children fell sick and were admitted to Narpatganj hospital.
Amid the rise in such incidents, CNN-News18 spoke to Satish Chandra Jha, the special secretary of education department and Director, MDM, of Bihar, to know the standard operating procedure (SOP) followed to prevent such incidents.
The MDM scheme is a school meal programme designed to improve the nutritional standing of school-age children nationwide. The scheme has been renamed as POSHAN Scheme. The program supplies free lunches on working days for children in government primary and upper primary schools, government-aided Anganwadis, Madrassas and Maqtabs. Serving 120 million children in over 1.27 million schools and Education Guarantee Scheme centres, the MDM is the largest-of-its-kind in the world.
Edited excerpts:
Why is there a rise in such incidents?
We have 70,562 schools in Bihar in which 1.08 crore children are beneficiaries of the MDM scheme. The reason for this could be personal enmity and factionalism. The follow-up at the local level remains weak. At some places, it is also due to the mess by the cooks, at times, the NGOs do not follow the SOP. Every district is given an SOP, whether the meal is being served by an NGO or a school education committee. The exclusive job of the BRC and DPM is to see that nutrition is being given to children in the right way and assure everything is done properly. It is the responsibility of officers deployed to make sure such a thing does not occur.
How are you going to prevent such incidents in the future?
The only way to stop it is the person in-charge should do his duty with full honesty. It is clearly mentioned in the rules that the cook and headmaster should taste the food and it should be served to the children only after half-an-hour. Food should be covered with net, there should be CCTV cameras, cleanliness should be taken care of, and all these things should be done by the NGO. There should be regular scrutiny by state-deployed officers. There are many stages to the process. After the food is prepared, it is brought to the school in vans. It is kept in the school for some time, and then served. Even a little carelessness can lead to such incidents. Broadly speaking, it is a challenge as the number of schools is very high. Still, if everyone fulfills their responsibility properly, these incidents will not happen.
What action are you planning now?
We have sent the investigation teams to Araria and Supaul. We are getting a thorough investigation done. We assure you that there will no loophole and strict action will be taken against those responsible for this.
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