1 litre 'milk' for 81 kids at UP school, teacher sacked

Mixing water with milk is quite common in the country. At an Uttar Pradesh school, however, a teacher did the opposite.

He mixed milk with water. To be precise, he poured a one-litre pouch of milk into a bucket full of water, boiled the mixture and it was served to 81 children as a midday meal.

The teacher, identified as Kabir Yadav, was sacked.

The shocking incident occurred at a government primary school at Salaibanwa village in the state's remote Sonbhadra district, about 450 kilometres from here.

The teacher said that he was given only one-litre milk pouch and was asked to serve it to the children. ''I was told that only this much milk was available,'' he claimed.

The matter came to the light after some children told their parents about the same.

A preliminary probe into the matter found the allegations to be true. ''We are conducting a thorough probe....strict action will be taken all those found to be involved,'' said UP minister of State for Basic Education Satish Dwivedi here on Friday.

The minister said that a police case would also be lodged against the sacked teacher.

The incident comes close on the heels of the video, that showed children at a primary school in Mirzapur district eating 'namak-roti' (chapati-salt) as mid-day meal, triggering a nationwide outrage.

Then the officials had claimed that the video was ''manipulated'' and accused a local scribe of hatching a ''conspiracy'' to ''defame'' the state government.

Barely a few days back another video surfaced showing children of a primary school in Sitapur district, about 80 kilometres from here, having 'haldi-chawal' (juice prepared with turmeric-rice) as midday meal.