UP: 1 litre milk mixed with bucket of water to feed 85 school children, Teacher suspended

Lucknow: A cook of government mid-day meal program has mixed one litre of milk packet with a bucket full of water to feed nearly 85 students at Salai Banwa primary school at Kota village in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday.

Sonbhadra is one of the most backward districts in UP. According to the social workers, the children who belong to low-income families depend upon the mid-day meal scheme to get one nutritious meal a day. After a video of the incident surfaced on the internet, the police have registered a case against the Siksha Mitra, and a teacher got suspended.

According to Gram Panchayat ward member Dev Patia, the midday meal menu (MDM), "Tehri" (a rice dish) and milk were to be served to the children. One litre of milk was made available to the cook by the school authorities.

Then a bucket of water was added to the milk, and it was distributed among the children, she said. Further, she added that the locals had informed her that such incidents have happened in the past too in that school.

When questioned about the incident with the school head Shailesh Kanaujia, he said that there are 171 children enrolled in the school, and eighty-one students were present on that day. He said that the cook was provided with the milk, which was served among the children.

Assistant Basic Shiksha Adhikari, Sonbhadra: I am being told milk was unavailable, so they were directed by authority to mix water in it, in a balanced quantity. I'm also being told that teachers had gone to get more milk but meanwhile pictures were clicked & distributed them.