The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Many Kalyanapuram school students refuse noon meal

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 29, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Many Kalyanapuram school students refuse noon meal

Staff Reporter

School's in-charge principal says the children are merely frightened

KITCHEN IN TROUBLE: Only half the students registered with Sri Kalyanapuram Corporation Primary School in Vyasarpadi now prefer to eat at the noon meal centre. — PHOTO: K. PICHUMANI

CHENNAI: The fallout of last week's food poisoning incident at the noon meal centre at Sri Kalyanapuram Corporation Primary School in Vyasarpadi is that nearly half of the 400 students registered at the centre refuse the food served.

Food is cooked for only 200-250 students and a new organiser is trying to encourage the children to eat.

The former organiser and her two assistants were suspended on Tuesday, when 27 children with complaints of vomiting and stomach ache were admitted to the Government Stanley Medical Hospital.

The in-charge principal, Chandra, however, maintains that the children are merely frightened.

"We check the foodgrains supplied by the Food Corporation of India. The cooking is also monitored," she says.

Teachers, however, blame the centre's organisers for lack of hygiene. They also accuse parents of blowing the Tuesday incident out of proportion.

A teacher said students took food home, but the principal denied it. "Food is served in the hall and the students must eat in the school itself."

Lack of maintenance

Parents complain not only about lack of maintenance but also about teachers.

"They do not teach the students well," said a mother, who sells vegetables.

The school holds parent-teacher association meetings, but some parents never attend them.

Those who attend do not raise these issues, the teachers said.

The windows of the kitchen , which also serves as a storeroom, are broken.

Tattered jute bags are hung to serve as a curtain. Food is cooked earthen ovens. Apparently, two years ago, the Government had proposed to replace the stoves with LPG stoves, but orders are yet to be issued.

Elsewhere in the country, corporate houses are taking over the scheme, but the State that pioneered the scheme is lacking support.

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