Students forced to sit on floor to have food

Kapra: At a time when the condition of the kitchens in various cities lacks proper maintenance and cleanliness, the opposite is the case of Zilla Parishad High Schools in the Kapra circle. But the government failed to provide proper seating arrangement in these schools.

Many students of these schools say that they have no complaints with the meals provided to them and they also said that the food provided to them is tasty. Students also said that the food provided to them is of enough quantity for them to stay till the end of the school. They are provided with liquid hand wash and water to clean their hands before and after they go for their meal.

Speaking to the Hans India, K Rupa, social teacher in ZPHS Rampally, said, "The food that is provided to the students is of a good and proper quality. The only problem that we face is that since the prices of the vegetables are high; the children are mostly given dal and rice along with curries like potato, tomato, brinjal and meal maker."

"There is no proper seating arrangement or a dining area provided to the students. They either sit on the ground or in their respective classrooms. The conditions of the benches are also not proper," added Rupa.

Similar is the condition of the ZPHS in Arun Nagar which is in Kapra. As there is no proper kitchen shed provided, they had to allot a classroom to the cooks to make the meals for the children.

Speaking to the Hans India, K Shekharaiah, head master of Zilla Parishad High School, Jawahar Nagar said, "The quality of the mid day meal provided to the students is kept in mind. On every alternate day as per the government norms of mid day meal, the students are given boiled egg.

The students have to sit on the verandah and half of them sit on the grounds to have their meal due to lack of seating arrangements." S Hari, school assistant of ZPHS Balaji Nagar said, "We make sure that the meals are of proper taste and quality. Before the food is provided to the students, the kitchen staff and teachers taste the food."

"Due to lack of place for the kitchen, we had to allot them a room which is next to a classroom. We had no other rooms that we could allot to the kitchen staff. This is obviously going to be difficult for the teachers to teach and the students beside the kitchen. There is no proper municipal water facility that is provided in this school," added Hari.