With the midday meal agencies being on strike for the last two days pressing for their demands, students are going without lunch at some government schools in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district of Telangana, stated a report in The New Indian Express.
There are 1,390 government schools in the erstwhile Nalgonda district, of which, 879 are in the new district of Yadadri Bhuvanagiri.
Though the DEOs have issued instructions for alternative arrangements to organise midday meals, the headmasters of several schools could not make them in the district.
Lunch is not being served in major government schools in Bhoodan Pochampally, Bhuvanagiri and other urban areas for the last two days.
Students bring lunch boxes in the absence of midday meal
Speaking to The New Indian Express, the headmaster of a government school in Bhudanpochampally said that due to the agencies' strike, they asked the students to bring lunch boxes from home.
"No worker is coming to cook and we are not in a position to release money for groceries. We were yet to get our salaries this month," the headmaster said.
A few students said that they were sharing meals that they bring from home with their friends. Students from poorer sections are suffering as they have to go without food.
Unware hence still supplying
Interestingly, the agencies are providing midday meals in schools in remote villages like Chintapalli, Devarakonda, and Chandampet mandals of Nalgonda district, as they are not aware that their colleagues elsewhere in the district are on strike.
Yadadri Bhuvanagiri District Education Officer Narayan Reddy said that there were problems with the supply of midday meals in some areas. He said that they were working to resolve the issue by holding talks with the education department officials in the respective mandals.mi
