NHRC notice on boy's death falling into hot sambar

Hyderabad: The National Human Rights Commission on Wednesday took suo motu cognisance of reports of the death of a five-year-old who fell into a bucketful of hot sambar during a mid-day meal in a primary school at Nalgonda on December 24.

Jayavardhan sustained 80 per cent burns and succumbed at Osmania General Hospital. The NHRC issued notice to the TS chief secretary asking for a detailed report within six weeks along with the steps taken by the state government to avoid reoccurrence of such tragic incidents.

The commission observed, “the incident is all about the state of safety of young innocent children in the custody of government run schools by their parents. There is an urgent need at the government level to sensitise the school teachers and the assisting staff to be vigilant and more careful while dealing with young children who require extra care and protection. There is a need to fix responsibility of teachers or the staff to control and manage the situation while the food is served to the children in the school.”

NHRC opined that the incident calls for a review by the state education authorities to ensure that Kitchen and the Cooking Area are not accessible or near to the place where the children are made to wait. The systemic changes in infrastructure are to be initiated and necessary guidelines issued.