There’s an almost universal perception that systems around the world are pervaded by corruption and injustice. Sometimes it’s corporate, other times political or maybe it’s something that touches you personally. But we’re jaded and tired and we just want to get home from work on time, so we sit back and hold our questions. We’re told that somewhere, somehow the system is actually working in our favour. Young minds are taught this skewed reasoning as well. Fortunately, they don’t always believe it.
Almost every time a system breaks down around us, there is another effect. From the rot emerges new voices of hope, fighting against the apathy and neglect that caused it. Malala Yousafzai, Greta Thunberg, the Parkland shooting survivors - these young activists shouted out when few others would. In Kerala, another resounding voice, one coming from 12-year-old Nida Fathima, is being heard as well.
On Wednesday in Kerala’s Wayanad district, 10-year-old Shehla Sherin died after a snake bit her at her school — an unfair death, one that may have been hastened by the school authority’s apathy. Her class teacher and school management delayed taking her to the hospital, and for that, Shehla had to suffer.
But new voices are speaking out for the little girl who was denied timely attention by the adults who were meant to care for her. These voices are none other than those of her fellow schoolmates, ones that the school management tried to silence with cane sticks, no less. And Nida Fathima has emerged as Wayanad’s poster child fighting against the flaws in the education system and the irresponsibility of adults.
Nida was one of the first students to boldly speak up against the teachers and school authorities for failing to act responsibly and save Shehla’s life. She has played a crucial role in the protests, taking a powerful stand that helped expose the gravity of the incident that had taken place at the school. Even as authorities from the Education Department had visited to inspect the school premises following Shehla’s death, the 12-year-old and her friends revealed the truth about their deceased schoolmate’s condition: That she seemed exhausted, and that she cried and begged to be taken to the hospital, only for her words to fall on deaf ears.
Leading a protest march on Friday by the school’s students, Nida was unflinching in her re-telling of the events that transpired at the school before Shehla was rushed to the hospital.
“She was seated on the chair and seemed extremely weak. Somebody was cleaning the blood from her leg. Yet nobody thought to take her to hospital. It was only five minutes before classes ended, only after her father came to the school, that she was rushed to the hospital. Had one of those teachers acted responsibly, the girl would have been with us now. She would not have died. If a nail pierced you, will you have two marks? And will there be so much blood? Whatever caused the injury, be it stone or nail, can you not take her to the hospital?” she alleged to the media.
On Friday, the Deputy Director of Education suspended School Principal AK Karunakaran and Headmaster KK Mohanan. Earlier, the teacher Shijil had also been suspended.
Following Nida’s overnight fame, many on the Internet sought to wish her well.
“It gives us hope that there are many young Nida Fathimas out there to give voice to justice,” one Facebook user said. Others pointed out that she was still a child and sought to protect her privacy and space.
But perhaps the most succinct comment came from activist and medical practitioner, Dr Shimna Azeez. She wrote, “I cannot believe that this is the same child who said, ‘lying teachers have no right to teach in schools,’ and put on a serious face during protests. Many media friends have asked me for her number following this post. However, I have declined to give it to them. Nida is still a child. She may not be able to handle the overnight fame she has received and still very much needs her privacy and space. Social media is toxic in a way that today if you’re celebrated, tomorrow you’re dismissed without a reason. I don’t want the good deed she did to turn detrimental for her. She still has to go to school and live as her family’s pet after this news dies down. She is just a firebrand girl who laughs a lot, chirps like a bird and is a child at heart.”
Though she’s only 12 years old, Nida isn’t new to activism. During the October protests against the night traffic ban along the NH 766 which runs along Wayanad and cuts through the Bandipur Tiger reserve, Nida was at the forefront of the student led agitation to revoke the ban in Wayanad which solely depends on roadways as it isn’t connected by rail. A photo of Nida, her fist raised in defiance as she took part in the night-traffic ban protests, has been shared widely, according to the New Indian Express.
The case of Shehla’s death has shocked the state, as details emerge over the multiple levels of carelessness and delay that may have led to the girl’s demise. The doctors who treated Shehla have been accused by her father of refusing to administer the anti-snake venom, citing due processes. One doctor has, however, refuted this claim.
The failures that led to Shehla’s death may have gone unnoticed had young activists like Nida and her friends stayed silent. We often ask children to do what they’re told. We’re glad this time they didn’t.
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