UP Primary School Students Served Rotis and Salt as Mid-Day Meal

An investigation into the incident has been ordered by local authorities.

Primary school children in Mirzapur were served rotis and salt as their mid-day meal

(Photo: Twitter/ANI)

A video which was widely shared on Thursday, 22 August, shows two women distributing rotis and salt to the students of Siyur Primary School in Uttar Pradesh’s Mirzapur.

Authorities have suspended two teachers and CM Yogi Adityanath has ordered an investigation into the incident, reports IANS. The chief minister said that the guilty should be severely punished for the incident.

UP’s Minister for Basic Education, Satish Dwiwedi, told reporters that he had already initiated a probe as soon as the issue was brought to his notice.

News agency ANI posted pictures showing the children seated on the floor, eating nothing but rotis and salt out of steel plates.

Primary schoolchildren in Mirzapur were served roti and salt as mid-day meals.

Primary schoolchildren in Mirzapur were served roti and salt as mid-day meals.

Primary schoolchildren in Mirzapur were served roti and salt as mid-day meals.

“It is true that today, the students got just plain chapatis and are being forced to eat them with salt because of lack of vegetables. This is a serious lapse.”

Anurag Patel, District Magistrate, to ANI

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted a video of the incident and wrote, “This is the state of the BJP government in UP.”

On 19 August, school children in West Bengal’s Hoogly district were served just rice and salt under the Mid-Day Meal scheme.

(With inputs from IANS, PTI and ANI)