School Students in MP Served Midday Meal on Torn Notebook Pages, Scraps of Paper on Republic Day

In the video, the students of the government high school in Bhatigwan village could be seen sitting on the floor and being served puri and halwa on ink-stained pages torn from old books.

The Wire Staff

In the video, the students of the government high school in Bhatigwan village could be seen sitting on the floor and being served puri and halwa on ink-stained pages torn from old books.

school students in mp served midday meal on torn notebook pages scraps of paper on republic day

Representative image of a cook serving midday meals to students. Photo: Flickr/ILO (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

New Delhi: Students of a government school in Madhya Pradesh’s Maihar were reportedly served their special Republic Day midday meal on torn notebook pages and scraps of paper, an incident that that has resulted into the district administration ordering disciplinary action against senior school officials, reported Indian Express.

A video of the incident went viral on social media, leading to severe outrage among the public. In the video, the students of the government high school in Bhatigwan village could be seen sitting on the floor and being served puri and halwa on ink-stained pages torn from old books.

Maihar district collector Rani Batad said action had already been initiated against those responsible. “We have taken cognisance of the incident. Action has been initiated against the concerned officials, and a proposal has been sent to suspend the principal of the school,” said Batad, reported Indian Express.

Welcome to Maihar, Madhya Pradesh
On Republic Day, children weren’t given plates, pages from books were spread on the ground and halwa-puri was served on them.
This comes under the Mid-Day Meal Programme, meant to ensure nutrition with dignity, not humiliation.
This is not a… pic.twitter.com/KFKHtF4WG3
— #YeThikKarkeDikhao (@YTKDIndia) January 27, 2026

According to Rajesh Singh, public relations officer for Satna and Maihar, the district administration acted after receiving a detailed inquiry report.

“Based on the investigation report submitted by District Project Coordinator Vishnu Tripathi, a proposal to suspend the in-charge principal of Government High School Bhatigwan, Sunil Kumar Tripathi, has been forwarded to the Commissioner, Rewa division,” said Singh.

“The salary of contract employee and Block Resource Coordinator Pradeep Singh has been deducted for one month,” said Singh.

District Project Coordinator Vishnu Tripathi said that the arrangement for the Republic Day celebrations at the school violated basic norms and that responsibility that lay with the school administration.

“The preliminary inquiry clearly establishes that the principal was responsible for ensuring proper arrangements for the midday meal. Such negligence on a national occasion like Republic Day is unacceptable,” said Tripathi.

He added that a report had been submitted to the district administration recommending strict action.

This article went live on January twenty-ninth, two thousand twenty six, at twelve minutes past twelve at noon.

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