‘Glass in school meal’ protest in Gujarat spawns outrage over Malala Yousafzai

The District Education Officer (DEO), Ahmedabad, issued a show-cause notice to the school, seeking a clarification on the ‘glass chip’ found in the food. Later, in a message to parents, the school declared a holiday for primary sections on Wednesday.

‘Glass in bhindi, dal, roti meal’

On Monday, a Class 8 student ‘felt something hard in the mouth’ while having his lunch of ladyfinger, dal chapati and rice served on the school campus and realised he had chewed a ‘piece of glass’. His father Malav Shah told The Indian Express that the student reported the matter to the teacher: “He swallowed part of it but handed over the remaining (glass chip) to the teacher.”

On Tuesday several parents reached the school and demanded the ‘glass piece’ be handed over to them – to show the doctor treating the child. According to Shah, his son was taken to a hospital instead of the school infirmary and they (the boy’s parents) were asked to reach the hospital. “We accept that there can be human error but the school management has been behaving in a very irresponsible manner,” the parent alleged.

“The doctor wanted to see the piece for further diagnosis and treatment whether to go for an endoscopy or not else there is a risk of bleeding. The teacher was also present at the hospital at that time. A child’s life is not that cheap. The school should take responsibility that this has happened but they are not doing so. They should hand over the piece to us,” Shah said.

The Malala Yousafzai, Anne Frank plot twist

Shah also went on to allege the Class V students were asked to ‘compulsorily study the books by Malala Yousafzai and Anne Frank’.

Responding to allegations on the books, the school authorities said, “We would like to clarify that literary works by internationally recognised authors, including Malala Yousafzai and Anne Frank, are part of widely recognised educational literature and are included in the school’s Book Club with the objective of encouraging age-appropriate reading, reflection, empathy and global awareness among students.”

It also went on to add how it had ‘strengthened’ its morning fitness programme through physical exercise and yoga. “Daily, shlokas continue to be recited during breakfast and lunch. In the secondary section, morning assemblies continue to be conducted by the duly elected Student Council, fostering responsibility, participation and student leadership,” the school said.

Message ‘Mix-up’

Later, the school issued a message announcing a holiday for primary sections on Wednesday but not before it retracted prior messages about teachers requiring a “mental health break.”

The first message, sent to parents around 5 pm on Tuesday, had said, “Due to extreme harassment and mental distress experienced by our staff at the hands of certain section of parents, the entire team of Anand Niketan Shilaj is taking a short mental health break for a few days. This pause is necessary to allow our staff to feel safe, supported and emotionally ready to resume their duties with the care, commitment and professionalism they bring to our students every day”. The school retracted this within an hour to send another message to parents saying that it would function as usual for classes 9-12 while the rest would have a holiday on Wednesday.

In its statement issued to the media, the school raised concerns about “unauthorised gathering within the school premises, as such situations may create avoidable safety and security concerns for students and staff.”

Asked about the confusing messages sent to parents, a school spokesperson said, “A teacher who had access to the messaging platform shared with the parents sent the first message. We have taken action against the teacher and a corrected message has been shared with the parents.”

DEO’s notice

In its notice to the school, Ahmedabad DEO Rohit Chaudhary asked the school management to submit a detailed explanation about the entire incident, details of the source or agency from which the food was prepared or supplied, verification or inspection carried out by the school for the quality of food and food safety, immediate steps taken by the school following the incident, corrective measures taken by the school to prevent such incidents from happening in the future.

The DEO also directed an immediate inspection, apart from a report on the incident on the basis of information received from the students and parents, examination of CCTV footage, photographs, samples or other available evidence.