UP school ransacked over mid-day meal

They also indulged in heavy stone pelting when officials intervened in the matter.
Police fired in the air to disperse a mob, which damaged the school building, broke the furniture and utensils in Garia Majha village on Saturday, reports said.
The mob surrounded the police party and pelted stones. Senior officials have rushed to the spot.

Upper caste parents have threatened to withdraw their wards from the primary school rather than allowing them to have mid-day meals prepared by cooks from lower castes.  
This is the second such incident in recent times. Earlier, upper caste students had refused to eat the food cooked by a Dalit woman at a primary school in Ramabai Nagar district.  The incident came to light on Thursday, when it was found during a routine inspection that upper caste students have not been eating mid-day meals as it had been prepared by a Dalit woman.

“There are 137 upper caste students in the school and all of them had refused to eat the food prepared by a Dalit woman”, education department officials said.
Maan Singh, the principal of the school, has been suspended. “It has been like that for many days but the principal, instead of contacting the senior officials and trying to resolve the issue, tried to cover it up”, the officials said.
DH News Service