In a significant move toward restoring secular values in public education, Kishoriganj-Manmohanpur Primary School in Purbasthali Block-I, East Burdwan, has finally ended its decades-old practice of serving mid-day meals separately to Hindu and Muslim students. After nearly 20 years of religious segregation in cooking and dining, the discriminatory system was dismantled following administrative intervention. From now on, meals will be cooked and served together for all students.
Located in Nasratpur Panchayat, the school has 72 students from pre-primary to class five and four teachers. Until recently, mid-day meals were being prepared separately by two cooks from different religious communities — Sonali Majumdar and Geno Bibi — using two different gas stoves connected to the same cylinder and served in separate utensils to students, who also ate in segregated areas. According to sources, 43 Hindu and 29 Muslim students were routinely divided in this manner, despite studying in the same classrooms.
The issue came to light recently when School Headmaster Tapas Ghosh, who joined a year ago, raised concerns about the duplicative logistics and growing financial strain on the meal scheme. The matter prompted the district administration to convene an urgent meeting involving the school authorities, local panchayat and education officials.
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After deliberation, an unanimous decision was taken to end the discriminatory practice and prepare meals together for all students, as followed in every other school in the state. Cooking has now resumed as a unified process, with both cooks jointly preparing food for all students—a decision that has been welcomed by the administration and the school.
District Magistrate Ayesha Rani acknowledged the issue, saying, “The situation at the school has been normalised. The administration is actively monitoring it to ensure no recurrence of such practices.”
"Cooking will now happen in one place for all students. There will be no religious separation anymore,” confirmed headmaster Ghosh, adding, “I am happy that the community has largely accepted this change, though some resistance from a few parents still remains.”
Nasratpur Panchayat Pradhan Kanan Barman expressed shock, saying, “We were unaware that this kind of segregation had been taking place for so long. At the meeting, we made it clear to all stakeholders that such communal division among children is unacceptable. Children are the future of this country. We cannot sow seeds of division in them.”
Purbasthali Block-I Panchayat Samiti President Dilip Mallick added, “This is shameful in a state that proudly carries the legacies of Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam. We must ensure that such practices are never repeated.”
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