BALASORE: Irked students going hungry at Banchhanidhi Das Mohapatra high school at Shrijung village in Remuna block due to shortage of mid-day meals, their parents staged a protest on Saturday.
Members of the School Management Committee (SMC) along with some parents entered the school premises and distributed biscuits among the students as a mark of protest. President of the SMC Lalat Keshari Das alleged the cook and assistant cook of the school carry items used for making mid-day meals home regularly due to which students often have to go hungry.
“We were forced to distribute biscuits among the students who return home hungry everyday,” he said. Das said Maa Basanti self-help group was given the task of arranging grocery for the mid-day meals. The group has not been supplying the required amount of ingredients necessary for preparing the meals, he alleged.
The SMC had brought the matter to the notice of the collector, district education officer and block education officer but in vain, Das said. A member of Maa Basanti self-help group said she along with some others was forced to throw away 233 eggs, 23 kg rice and eight kg potatoes after the SMC distributed biscuits among the students.
The SHG members said when the students returned from school after eating biscuits, they discarded the rice, boiled eggs and potatoes in protest. They asked if there was a shortage of meals then how are the cook and assistant cook carrying food home with them.
The headmaster of the school did not comment in this regard. Block education officer Kalandi Soren said he will visit the school on Monday to convene a meeting of the SMC, self-help group and staff of the school to resolve the issue.