19 of 23 Dead Indian Children Buried in School as Reminder of Government Negligence

Out of 23 children who died in India due to food poisoning from their free lunches in a Bihar school, 19 have been buried in and around the school grounds.

The parents of the dead children said they wanted their children buried in the school grounds as a reminder of the state's negligence in setting proper guidelines in the national food programme.

A local hospital doctor said insecticide was the likely cause of contamination. A total of 47 primary school students fell sick after eating a free meal of rice, curry and soyballs on Tuesday, July 16.

Twenty-two of the children died on Wednesday. On Thursday, July 18, Bihar Principal Secretary Amarjeet Singh confirmed that another student had also died of food poisoning.

According to local officials, the principal of the state-run school in Dharmasati Gandaman, Saran District is nowhere to be found after news broke out of the children's deaths.

Some children from other schools in Bihar were reportedly refusing the free lunches out of fear of food poisoning. Mr Laxamanan, director of the Mid-Day Meal scheme in Bihar, received complaints that children in some schools in four or five districts have refused to eat their free meals. Mr Laxamanan said they are still "trying to resolve the issue."

The Mid-Day Meal scheme is a national food programme for students, especially young children, who often suffer from malnutrition. The scheme was introduced to help improve attendance in schools. About 120 million children in 1.2 million schools in India are part of the free lunch programme in schools.

Negligence of government

The angry parents of children and villagers blamed the state school and the government for failing to do their jobs in ensuring the safety of the children. After the violent protests on Wednesday of parents carrying poles and sticks, three of the deceased children were buried inside the school campus while 16 were buried in a nearby area.

Local reports said the parents wanted their children buried in the school so the people will not forget what happened due to the government's negligence. Over 100 people from surrounding villages attended the children's funerals, and many were left still standing around after the ceremony to mourn their loss.

An official investigation has been launched. The government offered 200,000 rupees or $3,370 for each of the families of children who died.