On Camera, Worms Found In Mid-Day Meal In Bihar, Students Throw Away Food

Mid-day meal schemes across states in India serve two significant purposes - ensuring higher enrolment in schools, and providing enough nutrition to children. But the afternoon meal turned out to be the source of horror and anger for students across 75 schools in Bihar.

Chaos ensued across the Arwal district in Bihar, raising questions against the mid-day meal quality in government educational institutes, after worms were found in the food served to the students in 75 schools across the region on Tuesday.

Angered by the mishandling of food, the children refused to eat and threw away their plates. Videos showed the students lining up and throwing the worm-infested food into the school dustbin.

A separate video showed that the soybean curry served to the students had worms in it. The students were seen pointing to the worms as they sat down to eat their lunches. Reports also said that the rice, too, had worms in it.

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The mid-day meal supply in Arwal was being handled by the 'Royal Manav Mitra Seva Samiti'. On Tuesday, the agency supplied a meal comprising rice and a curry made with soybean and potato.

The discovery of the worms and the subsequent complaints created a stir at the education department in Bihar. The district education officer has ordered an immediate investigation into the incident.

Asgar Hussain, Arwal education officer, said that strict action will be taken against the agency in accordance with rules if any negligence or fault is found during the investigation.

"There will be no compromise regarding the health of children," he said.

Students who spoke to NDTV said that they immediately alerted their teachers after spotting the worms, and threw away their food.

(With inputs from Vishwanath Pratap Yadav)