Karnataka: 60 school students hospitalised after eating mid-day meal

More than 60 students of a primary school in Karnataka's Chitradurga have been admitted to hospital on Wednesday after allegedly consuming their mid-day meals at school. The student complained of stomach ache and vomiting after which they were rushed to the hospital. 

Students admitted to the hospital after consuming mid-day meals

Similar incidents in the past

In a similar incident, An upper primary student had died and more than 60 were hospitalised allegedly after having the school meal in Jharkhand in August 2018. In  Andhra Pradesh, 20 students of Ramakrishna Mission School were hospitalised allegedly after consuming a mid-day meal in Tadepalli town of the state recently. On August, 22 students, and a teacher were hospitalised after they consumed the mid-day meal provided in their schools in Pune. 

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Government set to review the Mid-day meal scheme

The incidents of school children falling ill are not new, this has initiated the Union Government to set to conduct an audit of the ₹11,000 crore school meal programme across India. The review committee will examine schools from every district in India, the audit is expected to start within the next couple of weeks. The probe was initiated after serious questions were raised regarding the quality of the Mid-day meals provided at schools following the controversy surrounding the quality of food served in some schools in Uttar Pradesh.

The midday meal scheme is a school meal programme of the government of India designed to better the nutritional standing of school-age children nationwide. With a view to enhancing enrolment, retention and attendance and simultaneously improving nutritional levels among children, the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) was launched as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme on 15th August 1995. The Scheme was later extended to cover children of upper primary classes and was renamed as  ‘National Programme of Mid Day Meal in Schools’ in 2007.

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