Midday meal survivors in new school,off the record

For uniforms,students of classes Iand II get Rs 400 each a year,while those of III to V get Rs 500. The annual scholarships are Rs 600 for students (excluding those in the general category) of classes I to IV,and Rs 1,200 for those of class V. The money is disbursed every December.

When Gandaman middle school principal Rajkishor Sah started calling out names of students to give money for uniforms last month,Neha,Rajani,Pinky,Mantu and others thought it better to head home.

Sah said: “I have no official record of the primary schoolchildren. We have 29 of them. My job was to ask them to resume eating the midday meal but they refused. I have not been given the charge of finances of the tagged school to provide scholarships and money for uniforms.”

About the tagging,he said: “Primary school principal Meena Devi,the main accused in the midday meal tragedy,is in jail and the block education officer has not made records of the tagging available.”

Sah said parents of enrolled students have become “over-demanding” after the tragedy. He could not explain,however,why children enrolled in the middle school were getting money for uniforms after two years. Several mothers have complained their children were not being given the money despite their attendance being over 75 per cent.

Parents of students of the now-closed primary school said they were being made to run from school to block to know which authority would provide them scholarships and money for uniforms.

Daily wager Balli Mahto,who lost his son Ashu,7,in the tragedy,said: “We are happy that the state government is constructing a new I-to-V school,an anganwadi centre and another public healthcare centre in the village. But we don’t understand why the block administration cannot give an enrolment register to the middle school.”

Akhilanand Mishra,who lost his five-year-old son Ashish,said a memorial coming up outside the primary school should stick to design and specifications and the money allotted for it should not be embezzled. He said the district administration should ensure the children affected by the tragedy get government benefits and they should not be forced to go to the CM for it.

“Only three of the affected families are benefiting from Indira Awaas Yojana,but several deserving ones have been left out,” said Surendra Rai,who lost his daughter.

Chhapra district education officer Madhusudan Paswan said: “It is strange that the middle school does not have an official record of the tagged school. I will instruct the block education officer to ensure children from the primary school get scholarships and money for uniforms. I recall 85 children were enrolled in the primary school. After 23 deaths,the number should have been 62. Since only 29 children are going to the middle school,we should know where the rest of the children are and if there were ghost entries in the (primary school) register.”