Madhya Pradesh government school students served Republic Day meal on torn book pages

Republic Day is meant to teach children dignity, equality, and pride in the Constitution. But in Madhya Pradesh's Maihar district, that lesson was delivered on torn notebook pages. A disturbing video from Bhatgawan village has gone viral, which shows government schoolchildren being served their special Republic Day mid, day meal not on plates but on scraps of paper pages torn from old notebooks and books.

On January 26, it was a day of puri and halwa special mid, day meal as per government instructions. Children had to sit on the ground, but instead of plates or even leaf platters, they were given dirty, ink, stained paper sheets that were spread out in front of them and food was served on these sheets directly. Children were forced to eat hot food from pages meant for writing and pages that once carried ink, dust, and grime.

What makes the incident more serious is that funds had already been released for purchasing plates according to student strength. Yet, on Republic Day, not a single plate was seen.

Specialists caution that it is very unsafe to serve food on printed or written paper. The printing ink carries lead and other harmful chemicals that can end up in your food if it is hot, especially in the case of halwa, which is a dessert. This exposure, among other things, could lead children to develop severe health problems.

Following the release of the video, parents and residents showed their frustration and shame and asked how such a situation could be allowed by the education wing.

Senior executive Vishnu Tripathi said that he was informed about the viral clip and further he instructed the Block Resource Coordinator (BRC) to undertake a school visit and a formal investigation. He assured that a strong decision would be taken against the offenders after the investigation report is submitted.

Part of what makes the whole matter at Maihar even more upsetting is the glaring discrepancy in the official figures themselves. According to the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) programme, it is mandatory for schools all over the country to submit daily mid, day meal data. The PM POSHAN data of January 26 shows that out of 88, 281 schools in Madhya Pradesh, only 66, 315 schools, approximately 75.12%, filed their data.\

It is quite surprising to learn that as many as 21, 966 schools did not submit any data whatsoever.

The data that was submitted claims that 36,28,061 meals were served across the state that day. But the most alarming detail lies elsewhere. Despite Madhya Pradesh now having 55 districts, PM POSHAN data continues to reflect figures from only 52 districts. Maihar district does not even feature in the official records.

In other words, on the very day children in Maihar were eating food off torn notebook pages, the system did not even acknowledge the district's existence in its data. 

The absence raises uncomfortable questions not just about monitoring failures, but about how many such violations go unreported simply because they never enter the data at all.

Last year, a strikingly similar lapse was reported from Hullpur village in the Vijaypur block of Sheopur district, exposing deep cracks in the implementation of the government's mid-day meal scheme.

A viral video from Hullpur showed young children eating mid-day meal on torn pieces of old notebook paper, spread directly on the ground. Visuals showed rows of children sitting on the ground with legs crossed, holding rotis in their hands while food was being poured on scraps of paper. These children looked very poor and unfortunate. Moreover, teachers standing nearby as silent witnesses, who should have been the ones to ensure dignity and hygiene, were also being blamed.

The ruling BJP had promised to raise the quality of mid, day meals in its 2023 Assembly election manifesto. Departments like Panchayat, Women and Child Development, and School Education had even been talking about providing balanced meals and tetra, packed milk along with the meals.

However, the photos from Hullpur and now Maihar completely contradict those promises and show that the children are living in a very harsh reality, even the dignity of a clean plate is still a far cry for them.