After a terrible ordeal that resulted in the deaths of two of their school mates, 22 Meghalaya children who were studying in a Karnataka school will return to Shillong on Wednesday afternoon, the state government informed today.
Thirty students of the Gokul Educational Institution in Karnataka’s Mandya district were taken ill last month through an acute case of food poisoning after consuming leftover food from Holi. Two of these Meghalaya students – a 12-year-old and a 13-year-old – died in the following days, leading to outrage in Meghalaya and nationally. Karnataka police have made several arrests in connection with the case. The school’s hostel reportedly did not have the requisite authorisation to operate.
The Meghalaya government rushed officials to the southern state and the other students received medical care for their physical illness as well as counselling for their mental trauma.
All 22 Meghalaya students reportedly expressed their desire not to remain in Karnataka any more and to return to Meghalaya. However, their return had to be handled carefully with further counselling and arrangement for their education; a report in the media recently stated that their medium of instruction has been in Kannada while in Mandya.
