Ten-year-old Shehla Sherin was bitten by a snake in her classroom at Sarvajana HSS in Sulthan Bathery on Wednesday, around 3.15 pm. She immediately informed her teacher, but the teacher allegedly said that the injury came from a nail and not from a snake bite, even as the child’s leg began to discolour and turn blue, her classmates said. The children in the class, along with at least one other teacher, begged school authorities to take young Shehla to the hospital. However, the teacher – Shijil – allegedly refused, and the girl was kept waiting in the hallway outside the classroom for about 45 minutes. Several teachers had vehicles on campus, but instead of taking Shehla to the hospital as soon as possible, Shijil allegedly insisted that they wait for the girl’s father to take her to the hospital.
By the time time Shehla got medical help, it was too late. Shehla’s father was reportedly only a kilometre away from the school and came as soon as he had been informed of his daughter’s injury. He rushed her to a private hospital, from where she was taken to the Vythiri Taluk Hospital. She was then referred to Kozhikode Medical College hospital, but she succumbed to her injuries on the way.
The taluk hospital confirmed that the young girl died because of the snake bite; but Shehla’s friends say that it wasn’t just the snake – it was the apathy of the school administration that led to her death. Now, her young classmates have decided to take the school to task, and once they raised their voices, an inquiry has been ordered into the incident by the state government.
‘Chased with sticks for demanding help’
Speaking to media, Shehla’s classmates said that they were chased away with cane sticks by the school principal when they demanded help for their friend, demanded that she be taken to a hospital. One of her classmates told the media that Shehla told the teachers multiple times that she had been bitten by a snake. “After an hour, her leg turned blue. Then her father came and took her to a hospital, almost 50 minutes after she was bitten,” the student said.
“The teachers came up with multiple diagnoses, that she could have scraped leg against a stone, then on a bench, and then that she might have hit a nail. But if she hit a nail, how could there be two puncture marks adjacent to each other? Irrespective of what caused the wound, we requested the teachers to take her to hospital. But Shijil dismissed us all,” another student told the media. Students also said that a teacher named Leena begged and argued with Shijil to let her take the girl to the hospital, but he refused.
School denies allegations, blames parents
While two inquiries have been ordered into the incident – one by the Deputy Director of Education and one by the District Medical Officer – the school has denied the allegations made by the students. The school’s principal KK Mohanan told local channels that Shehla had scraped her leg against a concrete wall, after which they poured water on the injury and tied a cloth around it. He also denied that there was a 45-minute delay at the school, and instead claimed that there was a delay at the hospital. In the same breath, he also blamed Shehla’s father for the delay. The principal alleged that the father of the victim said he would come to the school, look at the child’s wound and if required, he would take her to the hospital. “That is why we waited. But we did not delay in informing the parent,” the principal said.
While the principal admitted to sending the students away with sticks, he added that it was to disperse the students who were beginning to gather in large numbers.
The principal has also refuted that she had been bitten by a snake. “Neither the doctor who examined the student for an hour, nor we could identify or confirm if it was a snake bite,” principal Mohanan said.
However, nothing explains why the teachers and school management did not listen to or believe what Shehla herself said – that she had been bitten by a snake.
"The child saw the snake. She told teachers it was a snake. But the teachers insisted it might be a nail. They just poured water on the wound. The hospital was just one kilometer away and yet they did not take her," Shehla’s uncle Shanavas told the media.
Holes with snake nests in school?
Local news channels reported that the school appeared to have a number of holes in the ceilings, walls and floors, and the snake that bit Shehla seemingly came out of a nest inside a hole in the floor of her classroom. It is unclear what kind of snake bit the girl or whether she would have survived the snakebite if there had been no delay in receiving treatment.
School principal Mohanan blamed the students for the holes in the floors. According to the principal, the classrooms developed holes as the floors are plastered. “The classrooms are old. When students push and pull the benches, the floor started developing cracks,” Mohanan said.
Students claim that there is also a ban on wearing slippers in the classroom, and that Shehla was barefoot when she was bitten. However, according to the principal, "In some classrooms with no tiles, students wash their feet and enter the classrooms. To avoid dirtying the floor, some students keep their slippers outside the classroom."
Two inquiries ordered
Soon after news of Shehla’s death spread, parents and residents of the area protested at the school, and barged into the staff room in search of Shijil, the teacher who allegedly refused to let Shehla go to the hospital. Though the staff room was locked, some managed to break open the door with a stone.
Meanwhile, Shijil has been suspended by the Deputy Director of Education, Kerala Education Department.
"Two parallel inquiries have been started by Deputy Director Education and DMO,” Wayanad District Collector Adeela Abdulla told TNM, “Students have made serious allegations so we cannot comment more on it without a proper inquiry. Local residents have blocked the Deputy Director from entering the school as a protest, so as of now we haven’t been able to finish our inquiry. We need a couple of hours more to get the facts about these allegations.”