10-year-old girl dies of snakebite in class, teacher suspended
| Date :22-Nov-2019 |
WAYANAD :
A 10-YEAR-OLD girl died after being bitten by a snake inside her classroom, as the State Government suspended a teacher for alleged lapse in rushing her to hospital, officials said on Thursday. The fifth standard student Shehala Sherin was taken to hospital over an hour after the incident at around 3 pm on Wednesday, students of the Government vocational higher secondary school at Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad district alleged. Her parents rushed her to four hospitals where no anti-venom was administered and they were told to take the child to the Kozhikode Medical college hospital, which is about 90 km from Sulthan Bathery, officials said.
Shehala’s father said she died before reaching the medical college. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the incident was unfortunate and assured strong action against those responsible for the lapse in saving the child’s life. “The teachers are supposed to educate the children on how to react in such situations. But in this case, the teachers, despite repeated requests from students failed to take the child to hospital,” the Chief Minister said The students have claimed that the girl was taken to the hospital after the parents reached the school, he said.
On hearing about the incident, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Wayanad, wrote to Vijayan, stating that the school’s “crumbling infrastructure” needed urgent attention of the State Government. It is suspected that the girl must have been bitten by the snake when her leg accidentally got stuck in a small hole in the floor of the classroom. After a preliminary probe, a teacher, Shijil, was suspended for alleged lapse, Education Minister C Raveedranath said.
While Headmaster K K Mohanan said that first aid was given to the student, her father had been informed and there were no lapses on their part, shocked and angry classmates of Shehala said they had pleaded with the teachers to rush her to the hospital as early as possible, but they refused. “She cried in pain and said she was bitten by a snake. The teachers refused to take her to the hospital. All of them have car. They waited for her father to come to take her to the hospital,” the children, some of whom were weeping, said. “The teachers shooed us away with a stick saying the injury could be due to a nail piercing her or a minor scratch after her leg went inside the hole,” they alleged. “If her father had not come, will they have not taken her to hospital?” another girl asked.