Students from government-run schools in Gujarat’s Naswadi taluka are being forced to satiate their hunger with water as the food served to them in schools under the state scheme is not only inedible but is also allegedly prepared in unhygienic conditions.
About 1,400 students staying in five state-run schools in Linda village of Naswadi taluka are starving and filling up their bellies with water as the food served to them has tiny insects and caterpillars.
The state government manages and runs five schools in Naswadi – Naswadi Eklavya School, Alpa Saksharta Kanya Niwasi School, Dhootiamba School, Dharsimel School and Pisayata school.
Under an education scheme for tribal children, the government pays Rs 94 per child for food and snacks for about 1,400 students but the quality is so bad that the children often fall sick after eating from the school mess. The students have complained that the meals are substandard – the dal watery, the rice raw, the bread crumbly and the dough is kneaded with feet.
In the last three days, children have been forced to throw out the food in which they found insects floating. They have been surviving on water, but the principal is ignoring their pleas.
Vibes of India accessed the complaints filed by the students at Linda Model Residency School which they were forced to write on the school notice board. They loosely translate to:
“In every meal at the school, the vegetables have caterpillars, so we try to eat the dal but it also has insects. So, we turned to rice which was wet yet raw. When we tried to eat the roti, it was raw, burnt and thick. What do we eat then? By eating such food every day, someone or the other falls sick. We have not eaten for three days. So, are we just supposed to drink water? The principal does not hear our pleas. And they give very little breakfast and supper, milk is adulterated. What do we eat?” the heart-rending complaints read.
