Children’s health at stake in early-morning schools

In the latest case,Samruddhi Pawar,a Class 4 student of Modern Primary High School on Ganeshkhind Road,died on Thursday morning after she collapsed in the school complaining of chest pain. In another case,a 14-year-old student of Warje-Malwadi had died while playing basketball on the school premises on June 20. He too had no known history of illness. About three years ago,a student of a Nigdi school died on the very first day of the academic year. The girl was not feeling well on that day. But she was made to attend the school that had threatened punishment to “any student who remains absent on first day”.

Gajanan Ekbote,chairman of Progressive Education Society that governs Modern School,said there was no negligence on the part of the school in Samruddhi’s case. “We called her parents and then took her to nearest private hospital. The hospital refused to admit her after which she was taken to Ratna Hospital. She died before treatment could start,” he said.

The Chatuhshrungi police said the cause of 10-year-old Samruddhi’s death could be ascertained once the post-mortem report is received.

Raghunath Pawar,uncle of deceased girl,said Samruddhi’s family does not want to blame anybody for death of their girl. “It was normal school day for her. We do not know what went wrong…We are clueless,in complete shock…” he said. He said the girl had left her home by 6.30 am after having milk and a few biscuits. “She used to go by rickshaw,” he said.

Supriya Naik,medical superintendent of Ratna Hospital,said schools need to be educated on how to treat paediatric emergencies. “Schools often come across paediatric emergencies which they do not know how to deal with. Measures should be taken to spread more awareness about the issue,” she said.

Health experts and parents said schools should review their early morning timing which are exerting pressure on the students “who every day need to be dragged out of their bed,hurriedly readied and even had to skip breakfast in a bid to ensure that they do not miss their school bus and get delayed”.

A school principal said,“We regularly come across cases where students faint during morning prayers or during session of physical training (PT). Since we have to operate school in two shifts,we have no option available,” a school principal said. A senior education department official said schools should ensure that at least children up to class IV are not asked to come to school during morning shift.

School with ‘best’ timings

The Aksharnandan School,hailed as one of the few experimental schools,striving for all-round growth of children,has school timings that can serve as an example. The school,which has around 480 students enrolled from kindergarten to Class 10,starts at 9.30 am and finishes by 3.30 pm.

“We believe very early school timings affect their biological cycle. It puts undue pressure on them. It takes on an average one hour for students to reach school from home. This time-period required for travelling makes the early school timings more inconvenient,” Vidya Patwardhan,secretary of N G Naralkar Foundation that runs the school,said. She said,“Our school timings ensure students get ample time in morning to prepare for schools,and have their breakfast. The first meal of the day has positive effect on biological cycle of students.”

Aksharnandan School has taken into consideration the peak timings of heavy vehicular traffic city has while setting school hours. “It not only reduces travelling time to schools,but also ensure students safety,” Patwardhan said.

School authorities said the present timings are beneficial for both parents and students. “Our students remain fresh and energetic during whole day. Parents are very much happy with our timings for it suits their routine too,” authorities said. ENS