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Bengal school allegedly flouts lockdown, distributes food among students
Only guardians were supposed to show up to collect the rice and potatoes but instead, hundreds of students showed up.
On a day the Centre sent two teams to Bengal to review allegations of violation of lockdown orders, a government-aided school in Murshidabad district on Monday allegedly called hundreds of students to distribute rice and potatoes in lieu of their regular mid-day meals.
This happened even as reports of more Covid-19 cases were being reported from different parts of the state. To ensure the safety of children, the government had earlier asked all schools to give the food items to their guardians. All schools in Bengal are closed.
The Lalnagar High School in the district’s Hariharpara community block allegedly violated the orders and distributed 3 kg of rice and potatoes to each of the hundreds of students most of whom came in uniform. Only a few guardians came to collect the midday meal. Photos and videos of the incident went viral in the region.
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“The school authorities had announced on public address system that on Monday, they would distribute rice and potatoes. When I reached the school to collect them on behalf of my son, who studies in class 7, I found hundreds of students standing in queue,” said a villager who did not wish to be named.
“Most of the students appeared to be completely unaware of social distancing norms. They were standing close to each other and some were even playing in the field. I did not see any school official asking them to go home and send their guardians instead,” he said.
The father of another student said, “I was told by the school authorities that only students will be given the food items.”
The headmaster, Sarwardi Biswas, claimed no midday meal was handed over to students. He said, “I was instructed to give midday meal items only to guardians and I carried out the order. Not a single student was given the food.”
“There are 547 students in my school who were entitled to receive the rice and potatoes today. In all, 533 guardians came to the school to take it on behalf of the children,” he said.
The headmaster also rubbished an allegation that students were given food in smaller quantities. He said, “The rice and potatoes were weight in front of the guardians. I don’t know why they are alleging that they got less than three kg of each item.”
An assistant teacher of the school, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “We told the headmaster that students were not supposed to be in the school but he asked us to keep mum.”
Hariharpara block development officer Purnendu Sanyal said, “We instructed the schools to distribute the midday meal only among the guardians. I was not aware that Lalnagar High School flouted our direction. I am looking into it.”
