The Kerala Government has suspended the head teachers of the school in Wayanad where a 10-year-old died of a snakebite on Wednesday.
The Deputy Director of Education suspended School Principal AK Karunakaran and Headmaster (vice principal) KK Mohanan of the Bathery Sarvajana Higher Secondary School in Wayanad district of Kerala on Friday, following widespread protests over the 10-year-old’s death. According to reports, the Parents Teachers Association of the school has also been dissolved.
According to reports, the suspension order of the two authorities stated that the “officials failed to keep the school premises clean and safe for children.” They have been suspended with immediate effect pending enquiry, the order further read.
After a preliminary probe, a teacher of the school identified as Shijil, was also suspended.
On Friday, several student organisations took a protest march to the district collectorate at Kalpetta demanding justice for 10-year-old Shehla, who was bitten by a snake inside the classroom on Thursday. Protests were also held at Thiruvananthapuram following the child’s death.
Meanwhile, students of the Bathery Sarvajana HSS also conducted a protest march. Raising slogans and holding placards, the students marched across Sultan Bathery town and ended the in front of the school.
The municipal corporation stated that the student was bitten by a snake as the classes had taken place inside a building which was going to be demolished.
Following the 10-year-old student’s death, District Collectors of Idukki and Pathanamthitta have ordered the Education Departments to clean the premises of all schools and ensure that they are reptile free.
10-year old Shehla Sherin was bitten by a snake while sitting in class around 3:10 pm on Wednesday. According to her classmates, the 10-year old’s foot got stuck inside a hole in the class which resulted in the snake bite. Even as she complained to the teacher, the school authorities made the student wait for half an hour until her father had come to pick her up.
Shehla was taken to several different hospitals and succumbed at the Good Shepherd hospital at Chelod. Action is also taken against the junior doctor at the Sultan Bathery Taluk Hospital who allegedly refused to administer anti-venom to the child citing processes and referred the family to Kozhikode Medical College Hospital. According to her father, the junior doctor at the Bathery Hospital kept Shehla under observation for 40 minutes, drew her blood and ran tests, which took another 20 minutes. Following this, he alleged that they refused to administer anti-venom citing ‘processes’ and the fact that the patient was a child. The hospital authorities called the family an ambulance and wrote them a reference letter.
The Deputy Director of Education, District Police and District Collector of Wayanad were ordered by the State Human Rights Commission to probe the incident and submit a report within 15 days.