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Deworming medicines meant for students found in trash at Ludhiana govt-aided school
Taking note of the incident, member of the legislative assembly (MLA) from Ludhiana West Gurpreet Gogi conducted a surprise check at the school and brought the same to the attention of the district education officer
In a glaring incident of public resources being washed down the drain and government guidelines going for a toss, a bulk of deworming tablets provided by the health department for distribution among students were found in the waste bin at the RS Model Senior Secondary School, a government-aided private school in Shastri Nagar.
The tablets which had an April-2024 expiry date had been reportedly thrown in the trash instead of being distributed to the students. Taking note of the incident, member of the legislative assembly (MLA) from Ludhiana West Gurpreet Gogi conducted a surprise check at the school and brought the same to the attention of the district education officer (DEO) regarding the matter.
The visit was streamed live on Gogi’s Facebook page. He can be seen seeking clarification from the school staff including teachers and school director Mohan Lal Kalra, who denied having any knowledge regarding the medicines being dumped.
Gogi said the school authorities denying responsibility showed that they were not capable of running the institution, while the principal was found absent without an explanation. “I will recommend the education department to cancel the affiliation of the school,” he added.
Blasting the authorities for “gross negligence”, Gogi said the school should have returned the medicines to the health department if the supply was found to be in excess.
Marking National Deworming day on February 10, the packs of Albendazole tablets with a Punjab government stamp had been distributed to the schools to help students build immunity against diseases including Anaemia and to contribute to their overall development in the long run.
Meds dumped unwittingly by cleaning staff: Principal
Sunita Devgan, who had been the school principal since 2021, said a preliminary investigation conducted by her showed that the tablets had unwittingly been thrown in the school’s waste bin by a cleaning worker — soon after which someone recorded the medicines in the trash on camera.
Devgan maintained that the medicines had been distributed among students during the parent-teacher meetings.
Reasoning her leave of absence, the principal said she was away attending a meeting with an MLA at the time of Gurpreet Gogi’s visit to the school. She said a school-level inquiry has been initiated and action will be taken against those found responsible.
According to the official website, there are a total of 4,000 students enrolled at the school, of which the DEO is a member of the managing committee.
DEO (secondary) Harjit Singh said strict action will be taken once he receives the complaint.
Not new to controversy
The school had earlier drawn eyeballs back in May 2021 for calling its staff of over 50 teachers to the campus in violation of the curfew orders amid the peak period of the Covid-19 pandemic.
