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UI never thought I’d have to write something like this, but here we are. I need advice and support, and most importantly, I want to raise awareness about **food-based discrimination in schools**.
# What Happened?
My **5-year-old son**, who attends **Global Indian International School (GIIS) in Ahmedabad**, was **forced to sit in a corner alone** during lunch because he had a **boiled egg in his tiffin/lunchbox**.
His class teacher told him that **his food was “unhealthy”**, while the rest of the class—**all vegetarian children** (claimed by the teacher)—sat together and ate. This **wasn’t an accident**. It has happened before, but this time, our son finally spoke up because **he couldn’t take it anymore**.
Imagine a young child, excited for lunch, only to be **isolated and shamed for something as simple as eating an egg.**
# The Bigger Issue – Psychological Impact on My Son
* **He now thinks eating eggs is bad.** He came home and asked us, *“Papa, why do I eat unhealthy food?”*
* **Other kids have started bullying him.** Since the teacher segregated him, classmates have started seeing him as “different.”
* **He felt punished for something completely normal.** At five years old, he is **questioning himself, his food, and even our parenting.**This is **not just about my child**—this kind of **subtle discrimination** can create **deep psychological scars** in kids at such a young age.
# Our Complaint to the School – The Director’s Shocking Response
We officially complained to the school and met with the **director**—expecting them to listen, apologize, and correct this unacceptable behavior. Instead, we were met with **aggression and dismissal.**
* The **school has NO official policy banning eggs or non-vegetarian food.**
* The **school director admitted** that there’s no complaint from other parents about our son eating eggs.
* But then, **he doubled down**, saying *”If you continue sending eggs, your son will continue to sit alone.”*
* His **excuse?** *“Be sensitive! If parents find out that their vegetarian kids are eating next to a child with eggs, they will oppose the school.”*
* He himself is **a non-vegetarian (a Christian), yet he was enforcing this “rule” to avoid controversy.**This **hypocrisy is infuriating**! If the school truly wanted to **protect “sensitive” children**, then:
* Why **aren’t Jain kids forced to sit alone** when others eat onions or garlic?
* Why **aren’t lactose-intolerant kids separated** when others drink milk?
* Why **aren’t gluten-free kids sitting in a corner** when wheat is served?# Food Segregation in Schools – A Dangerous Trend?
This is **not about vegetarian vs. non-vegetarian**. I **fully respect** vegetarianism and religious food preferences. However, **forcing a child to sit alone** because of his lunch creates **a culture of exclusion** that is dangerous for young minds.
Interestingly, **some schools in Tamil Nadu serve eggs in mid-day meals** to ensure children get proper nutrition. If government schools can accept eggs, why is a so-called “international” school in Ahmedabad discriminating against it?
# What We Are Doing Next
1. **We have filed an official complaint** with the **CBSE Board** and the **Gujarat Education Department** via the PG Portal.
2. **We will take this issue to social media** to create awareness about food-based discrimination in schools.
3. **We are considering legal action**, as this is **a clear violation of a child’s rights** under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.# How Can You Help?
* **Have you faced similar issues in Indian schools?** Please share your experiences.
* **How should we push back legally?** Any lawyers or activists willing to guide us?
* **Should we take this to the media?** Would this help create enough noise to hold the school accountable?We are a **truly international family**—my wife is **American/Cuban**, and we have **always embraced diversity**. We never judge what others eat or believe in. But what happened to our son is **not okay**.
No child should be **isolated and humiliated** for eating something that is **not banned and is completely normal in millions of Indian households.**
Would love to hear your thoughts. How should we proceed? 🤝
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UI wonder why discrimination is done without any consequences these days?!? Hmmm… I don’t see any valid reason for it. *cough cough*
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UFirst thing I was looking for, after I saw eggs mentioned, was Ahmedabad. And there it is! I’m hearing so many stories about it
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UThis is absolutely disgusting. Sorry your kids had to endure. In NA we have rules against bringing peanuts in lunch due to not allergies which is understandable but this is outrageous
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CReading posts like yours just boils my blood
It just gives me more validation of the idea to home school my own boy. What a horrible and regressive thought of school is this ! As a nation the majority of the population is going backwards. I wonder a teacher who is picking favourites on the basis of food what would he/she even teach in class ? Do we really want our kids to spend 7 hours each day with people of such a petty mindset? I mean the first thing I expect my child to learn from his teacher would be morals and equality and good values -
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UThe principal is right in saying it will become a huge issue if the vegetarian parents find out that there kids are eating in the presence of a box containing eggs. Especially with kids that young who may unknowingly eat from said box while eating together.
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UIt will.. there is not complain from any of the parents as of now .Why did we not get a preventive call or message to warn us about such action??? My son is saying this is happening since many days… he takes non veg food occasionally to school.. These days we get so many messages on parents groups.. this day bring a red cap, this day dress in blue, this day that… Why no communication with parents first before such actions taken against the kid? If he fears vegetarian parents, then simple make it a rule that NON-VEG food is not allowed and send a circular to everyone. Not the case here. That’s why we are so upset about the issue. Hope you understand our point
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UAbsolutely heinous crime these brahmin vegetarians do to the people while india becomes diabetes capital in the world due to hight carb diet these so called “healthy people “follow
Maybe you need to message the teacher personally. If that’s not working, then u might need to change schools
I guess:[-
UWe have already signed a non-continuation form. He will finish the semester, that’s all. The first step we did was to talk with his teacher after hearing about the issue from Aaditya, she openly said that this is the best thing to do. then we escalated to her superiors and principal who then reinforce the measures and gave even a more aggressive tone to it like: ” since is only one child we need to care for the other vegetarian kids”. Their mindset is just unacceptable for us!!
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Uthank you for your support. If you could help to write a bad review to school [https://g.co/kgs/FeGij1n](https://g.co/kgs/FeGij1n) We are trying to build more pressure from there as well
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UThese same folks who won’t sit next to someone eating an egg are the same people who will move Canada, change their name to Tony and will sit next to someone eating beef 😂
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Uyaar eggs stink if you keep it in box after cooking, curry form is manageable but bhurji, omelette or even boiled. you are at fault. you wanna give protein in lunch find a way to mask the smell.
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UI am a Vegetarian Myself, I won’t eat with people who eat eggs or any non vegetarian food at the same table.
Making your kid in Isolation was the right move if all others are vegitarian.
Lets Imagine a Scenario, There are 10 People, 8 of them are eating chicken and other 2 are having a healthy meal ( pun intended ). You will tell the 2 people to eat separately as they aren’t comfortable seeing non-vegetarian food.
Also Food is also a part of religion for some people. You can’t make majority Baniya-Brahmin kids eat Non Veg as it hurts their religious beliefs. Not Caste Pride but dietiery preferences.
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UWhy the school did not inform us in advance before taking such action against a 5 year old kid who cannot defend himself? Why the school does not want to stablish a clear policy saying that ONLY VEG FOOD is allowed in school? Until today there is not such policy.. so, its all about pretending to be open to differences when they are not. If they would have mention this clearly in advance we would have never chosen such a school. If they would have warned us about they would take such action against our son when he brings non veg, we won’t have sent non veg school and just look for other schools immediately. No need to defend vegetarianism here, no one is against that! IT’S about school bias management and discrimination towards him!. Hope you understand now!
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UAhmedabad is literally the worst city in India culturally. Racism, casteism, bigotry and discrimination of all sorts is rampant and proudly upheld. Leave as soon as possible.
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UIndeed a lot going on. If you could help us to write a bad review on the school google reviews.. we are also trying to build pressure there ..among other things
[https://g.co/kgs/FeGij1n](https://g.co/kgs/FeGij1n)
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UThey do smell a lot! Yuk! Other kids would’ve been ran away eventually, when your kid opened that box of boiled eggs. Uff. Now you are just piling onto your kid’s trauma by playing victim card and making him the front face.
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UGet out of Gujarat! Dude! They will force vegetarianism on you in every possible way. Its disastrous considering the fact that India stands high in Global hunger index and 70% of its children are malnourished! Meat makes muscle and brain. If a “teacher” said that egg is unhealthy, when we know eating meat made humans, “humans”, and the vice versa makes humans “animals”, as we are seeing in India from past 11 years.
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UMy theory of survival. Do what the majority does else change your habitat. Try changing them and see more shit happening with more mental stress.
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UIt might work sometimes. But our fight is not against vegetarians, our fight is against the school principal and its teachers that without any policy or previous communication with us took such action against our child for several days. Its about the violation against his human rights and the school intentional discriminative practice against him. Hope it makes sense
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UThis reminds me of something
I (Christian) studied in Bhavan’s, a famously Hindu school. They had a rule that lunch had to be veg. We had a lot of brahmins and jains, so it made sense to implement such a rule, and my parents followed it.
But some of my friends would bring non-veg every now and then, and we’d all share and eat. Nobody ever complained. Even in my friend group, so people would bring non-veg, and my vegetarian friends wouldn’t care.
Many times after school, we’ve gone to McDonald’s right outside our school. We would have non-veg and they’d have veg, all sitting on the same table and discussing important things like class politics and who’s dating whom. Nobody ever had a problem.
I don’t know when religion became so important to people that they’re wiling to watch kids suffer for a few brownie points that don’t matter anywhere.
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UConsider feeding him eggs for breakfast instead of sending it over for lunch in his tiffin box and change the school next year. You can’t force other kids to have their meals with your kid no matter how unjust the reason is. You need to respect the sentiments of people who don’t want to watch a dead body being eaten at their table – and I’m saying this as a hardcore biryani expert non vegetarian. You calling it a “food preference” doesn’t change that it’s a dead animal /animal fetus wtevr. This is your ego talking n nothing else. You can easily manage your situation but you’d be okay continuing to put ur kid in a position where he gets isolated while you deal with a legal battle.
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UIn that case, as far as i understand (My education’s in tax/business laws) but not sure though – you could perhaps communicate to the specific teacher that you’d sue them for mentally harrassing your minor kid (which they’re actually doing) and i believe that should scare them because the laws to protect minors are pretty strong here. Get a smartass lawyer and you could fix this with some good powerplay in your communication with them and without actually having to sue.
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UWhy it started happening these day, I as a hardcore vegetarian jiske Ghar koi non veg kha k guest v aata tha to unke jane k bad pure ghar me pocha lagta tha or bedsheet change kar deti thi dadi meri and I studied in DAV Public School, Fuckin a DAV se and lot of my classmates were non vegetarian, jains, marwari and what not none of us ever cared non or our parents ever cared about our food.
Ye aaj kal sab koi kuch jayda hi sensitive ho gye h har bat ko le k jo actually matter hi nahi karta 1% v na logically na practically.
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Udo those vegetarians eat cake if so they themselves are likely consuming eggs because most cakes are made of eggs
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UWe’ve filed a petition on [change.org](http://change.org), would appreciate it if you support this and would sign it here: [https://chng.it/ZBxgBGS4hW](https://chng.it/ZBxgBGS4hW)
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UUPDATE (Jan 27th):
# Actions taken so far…
# Direct Complaints to the School. Raised multiple complaints via MyGIIS portal. Personally met with the school principal, Mr. Caesar D’Silva, who justified the discrimination instead of addressing it. Tried resolving the matter internally, and involved Global Schools HQ, but the school remained uncooperative and unapologetic.
Filed a formal complaint with the District Education Officer (DEO). DEO assured a joint hearing, but it has not yet taken place.
Filed a complaint with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) – Awaiting response.
Filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) – Awaiting response.
Filed a complaint on the Chief Minister of Gujarat’s grievance portal – Awaiting response.
Filed a complaint with the Gujarat State Education Department – Awaiting response.
Escalated the matter to CBSE for violating student rights – Awaiting response.Contacted Ahmedabad Mirror – no reply.
Contacted VTV Gujarati – no reply.
Contacted Divya Bhaskar – no reply.
Reached out to national and digital media (The Wire, Scroll, The Print, Quint) – no reply.
Reached out to influencers e.g. Dhruv Rathee – no reply.
Created a Change.org petition – 2 signatures so far.Any advice on what else we should do?
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UWell, it didn’t go as I thought it would! EVERYBODY (from the authorities e.g., school, education officer, children discriminations & protection department) who came across was against our views. On the other hand, ALL the parents we came across were SUPER supportive.
Lawyers we met, either were very very expensive or just didn’t know what to do with this case.
Anyway, we did everything we possibly could. I mean at the end of the day, it was the fighting against the principals.
We won many friends… I did a workshop… showing other parents, different food eating practices all around the world… among school-goers. [Including Indians – and, of course VIP NRI Jains 😂]
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SIt’s not humiliation to not be included. No one owes you friendship. And that goes for your son as well. I’ve had my parents and teachers try to force others to befriend me. Good luck with that. No one wants to deal with the kid whose parents got a teacher fired. And I hung out with the girl who used to eat meat/eggs for breakfast. Her breath *smelled* (accusing to other kids, because of the best intake). If you’re sending eggs/meat, send a mouth wash too.
As for “unhealthy”:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20104980/That being said, it’s not students who were othering your kid, it was a teacher. Action should have been taken against him.
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