Principals of almost 33,000 schools across the state will participate in this protest.
Subhash Mane, president of the Maharashtra State Secondary and Higher Secondary Schools' Principals' Association ( MSSHSSPA), said, "We conducted a meeting with all the parents and headmasters in Pune on Monday. We informed them that we will not provide midday meals to students Wednesday onwards."
The association has also threatened to boycott government duties if their demands are not met by September 5.
Mane said, "If anything goes wrong with the meals, which are cooked outside the schools in centralised kitchen sheds, we should not be held responsible. Most school principals have visited the kitchens where the food is cooked. However, it is not possible to check every day. A separate mechanism should be established to conduct these checks and to supervise (the process)."
He said about 10 lakh students in the state would be affected due to the strike.
Mane said the principals' work was restricted to schools and related works. "The government has to find another way of quality control (of midday meals). If the government does not take any decision by September 5, we will boycott teachers' day and all such celebrations. We will teach students, but we won't get involved in any government functions. We will wear black bands as a mark of protest," he said.
Meanwhile, Suman Shinde, deputy director of education (Pune Division) said, "I had a talk with the association and I requested them to withdraw the strike as a lot of students would be affected. Despite this, the association has decided to go ahead with the stir. A decision on this issue will be taken at the earliest after a discussion with the officials of the education department."
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