Patna: After the forensic science laboratory report confirmed the presence of toxic insecticide strains in the cooking oil used for making food at the school.
Three lakh school teachers in Bihar have decided to boycott the mid-day meal scheme from July 25 to get rid of non-academic work.
A week after the death of 23 children from eating a contaminated mid-day meal in Saran district, teachers are in no mood to assist the government in running the scheme.
“It was unanimously decided at a meeting of the Bihar State Primary Teachers Association to boycott the scheme,” its president, Barajnandan Sharma.
“We had repeatedly requested the government in writing to involve teachers in academic work only and employ some agency for the scheme, which was ignored. Teachers should not be burdened with all kinds of non-academic work,” he said.
Teachers are blamed for anything that goes wrong with the scheme, Sharma said, adding, “It is giving a bad name to teachers due to rampant corruption.”
In the wake of teachers decision to boycott the scheme, Bihar Education Minister P.K. Shahi said it was difficult to arrange for an agency to run the scheme in 72,000 schools across the state.
“The government does not have the resources to hire an agency for the huge task of serving mid-day meals to 1.60 crore students,” Shahi said.
The poisonous substance, organophosphorus, in oil samples collected from school was more than five times the commercial preparation available in the market, police said.
Organophosphorus compounds are degradable organic compounds containing carbon-phosphorus bonds used primarily in pest control.
