The education department has begun to ask mukhiyas (panchayat heads) and other influential people to ensure quality midday meals to prevent a rerun of the tragedy at Gandaman Primary School.

The heads of different village local bodies said the education department officials had approached them so that there are no complaints about midday meals. A few mukhiyas have started to visit the schools under their jurisdiction and taste the meal before it is served to children.

Shashi Singh, the mukhiya of Jajauli panchayat under Masharakh block in Saran district, said officials of the education department had approached him. The primary school where 23 children died after consuming the pesticide-laced lunch on July 16 is under his jurisdiction.

Singh said: “Earlier, these officials neither visited the schools nor did they pay any heed to our complaints.”

He added that though the school in Dharamsati-Gandaman village had been opened two years before the tragedy struck, neither the block education extension officer nor the district programme officer nor the midday meal in-charge of Saran visited the school.

“Had they been alert, the incident could have been prevented,” said the mukhiya.

He is not the only village head that the education officials have approached.

Bimal Kumar Singh Jitendra, the mukhiya of Hasanpur panchayat in Samastipur district, said the officials were visiting him regularly. Singh also said the members of the shiksha (education) committees set up in villages to look after the respective schools should be entrusted with the task of serving the midday meal. “Since the committee members are locals and their children are enrolled in the schools, they would never allow sub-standard food to be served.”

In Saran, where the incident occurred, the officials claimed that they had done their duty and put the blame squarely at the door of Gandaman Primary School headmistress Meena Devi.

Block education extension officer of Masharak, Rudra Narayan Ram, said he had gone to the school in the first week of June for an inspection but he could not remember the exact date. Ram, who was appointed on December 22 last year, after his predecessor Satendra Kumar’s suspension, said there were 49 middle and 81 primary schools in the block. “It is not possible to look after each and every school,” said Saran midday meal in-charge Sabir Hasan, admitting that he had not visited the school in Dharamsati-Gandaman before the incident.

Besides Meena, the school had another teacher Kumari Kalpana, who was not present on the day of the tragedy. She has now gone on maternity leave.