Students of a school in Madhya Pradesh’s Maihar district were served their special Republic Day midday meal on scraps of paper, including torn notebook pages, triggering outrage after a video of the incident went viral. The district administration has subsequently ordered disciplinary action against senior school officials.
The incident occurred on January 26 at the Government High School in Bhatigwan village, where students sitting on the floor were served puri and halwa on ink-stained pages torn from old books.
After a video of the incident was widely circulated on social media, the district administration took cognisance of the matter. Maihar District Collector Rani Batad said action had already been initiated against those responsible. “We have taken cognisance of the incident. Action has been initiated against the concerned officials, and a proposal has been sent to suspend the principal of the school,” she said.
Public Relations Officer for Satna and Maihar, Rajesh Singh, said the administration acted after receiving a detailed inquiry report. “Based on the investigation report submitted by District Project Coordinator Vishnu Tripathi, a proposal to suspend the in-charge principal of Government High School Bhatigwan, Sunil Kumar Tripathi, has been forwarded to the Commissioner, Rewa division,” Singh said.
He added that financial penalties had also been imposed. “The salary of contract employee and Block Resource Coordinator Pradeep Singh has been deducted for one month,” Singh said.
District Project Coordinator Vishnu Tripathi said the arrangement violated basic norms and that responsibility lay with the school administration. “The preliminary inquiry clearly establishes that the principal was responsible for ensuring proper arrangements for the midday meal. Such negligence on a national occasion like Republic Day is unacceptable,” Tripathi said, adding that a report had been submitted to the district administration recommending strict action.
