India, March 19 -- A heated debate over substandard protein bars supplied to Mumbai's civic-run schools (HT, March 18, 2026) has uncovered another disturbing truth - that 128 of the 130 posts of beat officers, who play a supervisory role in these schools, are vacant.

This severe shortage of beat officers is impacting monitoring at the ground level, in turn, compromising the quality of infrastructure and education in these schools.

The issue emerged during the BMC's education committee meeting on Tuesday, where a discussion on substandard energy bars led to the realisation that poor quality mid-day meals served to municipal students had not been detected due to the absence of beat officers.

Teachers are also concerned over the large num...