Students locked up the government school at Lakkalakatti village in Gadag district on Tuesday for not providing them good food under the Midday Meal Scheme, stated a report in The New Indian Express.
The school has 441 students and most of them are from poor families. The students, who staged a protest, alleged that the school authorities have also stopped serving them cooked pulses and eggs. Besides, the toilets are not being maintained properly.
Sources said that the quality of food served to schoolchildren is bad and only four kg of vegetables are used to make sambar daily.
Meanwhile, the teachers said that they are not aware of the problems faced by the students. They will bring the problems to the notice of the authorities concerned and get them resolved at the earliest. But the protesting students said that the teachers have not taken their complaints seriously.
They raised slogans against the school management and said they would boycott classes if steps were not taken to provide them with good food. Some students said the elected representatives are not visiting their school as it is in a remote place.
"We appeal to the officials to transfer our headmaster AS Rathod from here. The officials should visit the school soon and address our problems," they said.
Pradeep Lamani, a resident of Lakkalakatti village said, "My son is in Class VI. After learning that bad food is being served to children, we went to the school a few days ago and spoke to his class teacher. The teacher told us that she would bring it to the notice of some senior officials. But nothing has been done so far to provide good food to schoolchildren."
