E-Paper
Ludhiana: DEO calls for suspension of head teacher over mid-day meal ‘lapses’
The school, which has an enrollment of 548 students for the 2025–26 academic session, was found to be operating under deeply inadequate conditions
In a move against negligence in school management, district education officer (DEO) (elementary) Ravinder Kaur has written to the director of school education (elementary), demanding the immediate suspension of Inderjit Kaur, headteacher of Government Primary School for Girls, Ayali Kalan. The recommendation follows a surprise inspection conducted on Monday, which revealed multiple serious lapses in basic facilities, hygiene and mid-day meal services.
The school, which has an enrollment of 548 students for the 2025–26 academic session, was found to be operating under deeply inadequate conditions. According to the letter written by DEO Kaur, no fruits were being served to students, kheer and chapatis were not prepared, and the dal provided was poorly cooked.
The DEO’s report highlights that even though the school draws salaries for four mid-day meal workers, only three have been working on the ground for a long time. “On questioning the mid-day meal workers, it came to light that rice was being served to students every day, with no chapatis being prepared at all. Even the Kheer, a scheduled item in the weekly mid-day meal, was never cooked, and fruits were entirely missing from the menu,” said DEO Kaur.
She added that the school lacked adequate ration supplies to prepare proper meals and the overall cleanliness was far from acceptable. “The mid-day meal kitchen was full of cobwebs, and there was no proper system for storing the available ration,” DEO Kaur added.
She also noted poor student attendance on the day of inspection, with less than half of the enrolled students present. “When I questioned the staff about the low attendance, the answers given were vague and unsatisfactory,” she stated.
The DEO emphasised that once higher authorities approve the headteacher’s suspension, a detailed inquiry will be initiated to investigate all issues, including irregularities in ration management and overall school administration.
