Following the
poisoning of 23 schoolchildren in the Indian state of Bihar by a contaminated free
school meal (see my blog of July 18), teachers in the state have announced they
are boycotting the lunch service.
After the
deaths, students at a school in the Nawada district of Bihar beat up their
teachers, complaining about the quality of the food. Meanwhile it has been
revealed that high levels of an agricultural pesticide was found in the fatal
lunch dispensed in the village of Dharmasati Gandaman.
The authorities say they are still trying to find the
school principal who is wanted on suspicion of criminal negligence.
About 120
million children in 1.2 million schools benefit from the free meals scheme, but
teachers complain about corruption and poor quality food. The state says it
cannot afford to hire other workers to implement the scheme.
No comments:
Post a Comment