Midday meal hygiene issue: Cooks sit near a stove outside a toilet in a Madhya Pradesh school
Children of a government school in Madhya Pradesh have been eating midday meals prepared outside the school's toilet and using utensils stored inside the toilet, the authorities have found.
Photos show midday meal cooks sitting near a stove with firewood about them, in front of the soot-stained yellow wall of the toilet right next to the open stove.
The officials of the state-run school in Damoh town, some 250 kilometres from state capital Bhopal, have tried to deflect the situation by pinning the serious breach of hygiene standards on the lack of space to build a kitchen.
The headmaster blamed the self-help group that is responsible for providing midday meals to the schoolchildren for not ensuring the food are clean.
Madhya Pradesh rural development minister Gopal Bhargav said he will order an investigation and the people who are responsible for the lapse will face action.
Using utensils kept in the toilet and preparing food right outside it pose big health risks as chances of germ infections are high.
"Something like this shouldn't happen. I'll order for probe today (Tuesday) itself. It will have to be seen if it's due to corruption. Action will definitely be taken. It's tough to monitor all groups who prepare food for schools. A mechanism is being put in place," he said.
Using utensils kept in the toilet and preparing food right outside it pose big health risks as chances of germ infections are high.
The midday meal programme in village schools across the country has often been criticised by education and health experts for not paying enough attention to hygiene.
In November last year, students of another government-run primary school in Madhya Pradesh's Damoh town were allegedly
made to clean a toilet using their midday meal utensils, prompting the district authorities to order an inquiry into the incident. The school staff, however, denied the allegation.
Two month before that incident, the
Supreme Court had asked the centre how it plans to monitor implementation and hygiene of the midday meal scheme at government schools across the country.