Steel plates provided to MP school after outcry over students eating from newspapers

Sheopur: A government primary school in Sheopur district, Madhya Pradesh, has received stainless steel plates for its mid-day meal programme following a viral video showing pupils eating from newspapers. The footage provoked widespread criticism, including condemnation from Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.

BJP leader and former state minister Ramniwas Rawat, along with Sub-Divisional Magistrate Abhishek Mishra, visited the school in Hullapur, Vijaypur block, on Saturday. The two joined students for the mid-day meal, which was served on new steel plates.

A video later shared on social media showed the school premises freshly cleaned, with children eating lunch on the new utensils.

“Today, our entire team visited the spot and inspected the food. It was found that the meal was properly served on plates. I myself, along with public representatives, also ate the meal there,” Mishra told reporters.

“In the same way, we are monitoring this matter to ensure that no such incident happens again,” he added.

Authorities had earlier cancelled the contract of the self-help group responsible for preparing the meals, transferring the responsibility to the School Management Committee. The decision was made on Friday, days after the initial video went viral on Tuesday.

School in-charge Bhogiram Dhakad has been suspended, and two other staff members have been issued notices, officials confirmed.

Rahul Gandhi on Saturday posted the viral video on X, criticising the state and central governments. He said the chief minister and the prime minister “should be ashamed for nurturing the future of the country in such a pitiable state.”

He further alleged that the ruling BJP’s talk of “development” was merely an illusion, claiming that the party’s true means of retaining power lay in “vyavastha” – the system.