“Across the country, 4,062 appointments, including principal, accountant and lab assistants, have been made. Of these, about 500 appointments have been made in Gujarat… Due to administrative shortcoming, a thoughtless decision has caused detrimental effects to the education of (tribal) students in these schools. Even the appointments made for the English medium CBSE Eklavya schools have been done without thought as the new education policy advocates that students should receive education. Tribal students need education in English but converting the Gujarati-medium schools to English at once has caused problems for the students,” Vasava said during a media briefing in Godhra.

The MLA added that the state government did not “seek opinion of parents” of the students studying in the Eklavya model schools before making the changes to the medium of instruction.

“Teachers who have been appointed to these schools from outside Gujarat are not familiar with the students, their culture, their mother tongue of Gujarati or the constraints that these students face… Therefore, the students are exasperated as they are unable to communicate with the teachers to express their difficulty,” he said.

Vasava, during his visit to Chhota Udepur, also met students of the Puniyavant Eklavya Model school where close to 116 students fell ill due to suspected food poisoning on Sunday.

He alleged that after the visit, he came across “grave shortcomings” in the meals being served to the tribal students.

“I was disturbed to know that there is no fire safety in the kitchen… The canteen contractor of the Eklavya model school is from Mehsana and sends across a tempo with raw materials, including vegetables, once in 15 days. The children are served stale food and that explains why they are taking ill,” he alleged.

Tribal Development Department Principal Secretary S Murali Krishna did not respond to calls and text messages seeking a comment.