Daringbadi: In the absence of infrastructure, midday meal (MDM) is served to children in a most unhygienic manner in many schools of this block in Kandhamal district. Students are seen eating their meals in open fields amid stray dogs and pigs and under trees in many schools, a report said.
The Godapur Upper Primary School and the Majhisahi Primary School serve as examples of this sorry state.
With 108 students on its rolls from classes I to V, Majhisahi Primary School has only two classrooms. This has greatly hindered classroom teaching as all students have to be crammed into the two rooms.
On the other hand, MDM is prepared in a derelict place with chances of insects and snakes falling into the food.
Due to space crunch, the students have to eat their meals under mango trees in an open field near the school amid stray cattle, dogs and pigs.
Likewise, Godapur Upper Primary School accommodates a total of 404 students from Class I-VIII. Even as nine teachers are engaged in the school, it is plagued by a host of problems.
Here also students have to eat under trees and even on the bathroom’s verandah. As students take food in the open, chances of dust particles dropping on the food are high, locals complained.
“We have decided not to allow the students to have their MDM in open fields,” headmaster Udayanath Barad said, adding some students prefer to eat under the sun due to the prevailing extreme cold condition.
Block education officer Purendra Behera said they would soon issue a directive to the schools to stop the practice of serving food under trees and in fields. PNN
