Odisha school headmaster stops midday meal! Students starve

Serious allegations have emerged from Sukadevpur Government Upper Primary School under Basudevpur Municipality in Bhadrak district, where the headmaster allegedly stopped the midday meal programme and left the school premises, forcing students to remain without food.

The school has 109 students from Class I to Class VIII. Earlier, a private agency was supplying midday meals. However, following complaints over poor food quality, the Education Department instructed the school authorities to prepare meals on campus about a month ago, where cooking was being carried out regularly within the school premises.

Despite the arrangement running for a month, the headmaster reportedly stopped the cooking of midday meals abruptly on Tuesday. As a result, all 109 students were left fasting and had to make do with only drinking water throughout the school hours. It has been alleged that no dry food or alternative arrangement was provided by the school authorities.

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Adding to the outrage, while the students remained hungry, the headmaster allegedly left the school and went home to have his meal.

“Mid-day meals could not be provided due to a financial crisis. No alternative arrangements were made for the programme. The students did not eat anything at school, so they were allowed to go home for lunch. No permission was required, as the students live just one kilometer away from the school,” said Umesh Chandra Kath, Headmaster.

Official Response Awaited

When questioned about the incident, the headmaster reportedly stated that the midday meal was stopped due to a lack of funds. However, no official response has been received from the Block Education Officer regarding the matter so far.

Growing Concern Over Student Welfare

The incident has raised serious concerns about the implementation of welfare schemes and the accountability of school authorities. With students being deprived of their entitled meals, the situation underscores the urgent need for administrative intervention to ensure that children’s welfare is not compromised in government schools.