Palghar, A 7-year-old student of a residential school in Maharashtra’s Palghar district has died after suffering from high fever and breathing difficulties, while 26 others have been hospitalised with cold, cough and fever symptoms, officials said.
An average of nearly one student died every day in Maharashtra’s ashram schools over the last two years, taking the total death toll to 584 across state-run and government-aided residential facilities during the period, officials said earlier this month. Facing severe criticism over the recent deaths of three tribal girls due to snakebite in Gadchiroli, the government has initiated corrective measures, including the cancellation of the residential school’s licence and comprehensive safety audits of all such facilities across the state.
The Integrated Tribal Development Project officer Vishal Khatri visited the school and the health centre to meet the hospitalised students and their parents. In the Palghar case, a Class 1 student at the ashram school in Maswan developed high fever on August 22 and was taken to the local Primary Health Centre for treatment. Following the incident, senior health and administration officials visited the school, which houses 395 resident students out of 449 total enrollees, and a medical team conducted a full health screening on the campus.
This comes after three tribal girls died from a venomous snakebite after sleeping on the floor of a residential school hostel in Gadchiroli district earlier this month.
“As per the advice of the district health officer, a fresh health check-up drive was conducted at the Maswan ashram school.
Essential measures for campus sanitation and water purification are being carried out in the institution, and all necessary precautions will be taken to prevent the recurrence of such unfortunate incidents,” Khatri told PTI.
