PANAJI, India - Twenty children were hospitalised Friday after they ate lunch at school in the state of Goa, days after 23 pupils died after eating food cooked in an eastern Indian school.
Police said the incident was reported in a privately-run school in the village of Usgao, 40 kilometres (29 miles) from Panaji, capital of the western Indian state.
Officials said the students were rushed to a state-run hospital after they ate what is known in India as ‘midday meals’ in school and fell ill. They were later released after first-aid, they said.
Goa education department director Anil Powar told AFP an inquiry was under way into the reported mass-poisoning in St. Joseph High School.
“Food samples are collected and sent for analysis with the state food and drugs administration laboratory,” he said, adding that the results had not yet been given.
Twenty-three children between four and 12 died and scores more were taken ill on Tuesday after eating lunch served at their school in the eastern Bihar state.
Grieving parents attacked the Bihar headteacher’s house on Friday in protest over the deaths and the response by officials to the tragedy.
Officials said Thursday it appeared from post mortem results that the food was contaminated with a pesticide.
Free lunches are hugely popular with poor families and educators see the meals as a way of increasing school attendance across India. The midday meal scheme has been in place for decades, but children often suffer from food poisoning due to poor hygiene in school kitchens and the sometimes sub-standard quality of the food.
The price of food has soared in India over the last six years, causing increased hardship for the 455 million people estimated by the World Bank to live below the poverty line.