Over 60 Students Fall Ill at Gujarat School; Unhygienic Kitchen Suspected

Gujarat: Panic broke out at Gyanshakti Residence School in Matar taluka, Kheda district of Gujarat, after more than 60 students suddenly fell ill on Thursday night. The students complained of diarrhoea, vomiting, fainting, and even panic attacks.

They were rushed to Kheda Civil Hospital in a fleet of 108 ambulances, creating chaos as medical staff rushed to manage the emergency.

Initial investigations by district authorities revealed alarming conditions in the school kitchen, which is suspected to be the source of the incident. Officials discovered that food was being prepared in unsanitary conditions. Flour and roti-making machines hadn’t been cleaned properly, and dirty utensils were seen lying near food items.

Before the authorities arrived, the school staff had attempted to quickly clean the kitchen — but officials documented its condition both before and after the cleanup. Food samples have been collected and sent to the lab for testing. If negligence is confirmed, strict action will be taken against the school administration.

Senior officials, including the District Health Officer, the District Primary Education Officer, and the Kheda Mamlatdar, visited both the school and the hospital to oversee the situation.

While parents and residents have accused the school of carelessness and trying to hide the incident, health officials are urging calm. Dr. V.S. Dhruv, a district health officer, said that only one child had a typical case of vomiting, while others showed mild seasonal symptoms.

He added that if food poisoning was the cause, more children would likely have shown severe reactions. Investigations are ongoing.

This incident follows several similar outbreaks in Gujarat over the past year. In Dahod, over 60 girls fell ill after a school meal. In Vadodara, over 100 female students at MSU's hostel suffered food poisoning, leading to the blacklisting of the catering contractor. Mehsana also saw 33 people fall ill after eating sweets at a school event.

Gujarat’s Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA) has been active in response to such cases. In 2024–25, they conducted over 190 raids, seizing 351 tonnes of substandard or adulterated food worth ₹10.5 crore. Of over 60,000 food samples tested, 1.45% failed quality checks, and 0.17% were found unsafe.

To improve monitoring, the state has increased food testing infrastructure, including setting up new labs and deploying mobile testing vans.