- Girl dies after collapsing in Rajkot school, family accuses officials of ‘not allowing warmer clothes’ amid cold
NE NEWS SERVICE
VALSAD, RAJKOT, JAN 18
Day after an eighth grader died in Rajkot, a second year student at the HP Shroff Arts College in Valsad collapsed in the campus on Wednesday and was rushed to hospital by college professors, where he was declared dead of severe cardiac arrest.
College Principal informed the trustees of Shree Nutan Kelavani Mandal that “our college’s SYBA’s fourth semester student Aakash Patel had died today”.
A Valsad Town police station officer said, according to the statement of college professor Chetan Aahir and Mukesh Chauhan, Aakash collapsed and they rushed him in their private vehicle to the Kasturba Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
The student’s father Dinesh Patel, in his statement to the police, said that his son suffered from no health issues, but, he does not intend to register any complaint. The doctors’ primary diagnosis is that the student died of severe cardiac arrest, and the body was sent for a post-mortem examination, the police officer said.
Rajkot girl student dies of cardiac arrest
A 14-year-old girl studying in Class 8 at AVJasani Vidya Mandir in Rajkot, Gujarat, died suddenly on Tuesday after collapsing in her school. According to her family members, the girl, Riya Sagar, died due to cold weather conditions and they claim that the school authorities should have allowed students to use warm clothes of their choice instead of just uniform sweaters.
The incident has prompted the district education authorities to direct that the schools in the area be opened an hour later than their normal start time in the morning in view of the prevailing cold weather conditions and also allow flexibility in wearing warm clothes by students.
Doctors said that Riya’s death appeared to be due to a cardiac arrest, while her family maintains that she did not suffer from any health complications. District Education Officer B S Kaila said that the exact cause of her death will be ascertained after the post-mortem.
“We have instructed schools to start after 8 am and allow students to wear shawls, mufflers, jackets, etc. In view of the issues raised by her (deceased student’s) mother. This will be in force till January 21 and it may be extended till January 27,” Kaila said.
Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi urged the government to take steps to prevent such incidents and delay the school opening time by an hour so that students do not have to suffer due to cold. Gujarat has witnessed a drop in temperature with cold wave conditions prevailing in parts of Saurashtra and Kutch regions in the last two days.
