Wilting away: Students lose consciousness in summer heat following early return

Parents, teachers urge govt to extend summer vacations until August 31

PESHAWAR: With children returning to schools at the end of the summer vacations, the students were met by a familiar feeling — scorching heat. As a result, several students were reported to have lost consciousness upon returning to schools in different parts of the province.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Elementary and Secondary Education (K-PESED) had announced summer vacations in state-run schools from May 17 to July 31 at the middle, high and higher secondary levels.

However, owing to the sizzling heat and lack of power in many state-run schools, several students were reported to have fallen unconscious.

On Saturday, four such incidents were reported from Swabi, one from Mardan, two from Charsadda and one from Peshawar. Teachers had to shift students to nearby health care centres for treatment.

Hazrat Ali, a sixth-grade student at the Government High School Dagia No-1, eighth-grade student Ali of Government High School and two students at Cornel Sher Khan Kali, all in Swabi were reported to have fallen unconscious due to the heat.

Similarly, a student in the Babeni Kali School in Mardan and two from Charsadda were reported to have been shifted to the district hospitals for treatments. In Peshawar, a sixth-grade student fell unconscious at the Government High School No-4. The student had to be shifted to the Lady Reading Peshawar for treatment.

On the other hand teachers and parents have urged the K-PESED to extend the summer vacations to August 31 due to the hot weather and the extended periods of power outages since it could exacerbate the situation.  All Primary Teachers Association (APTA) President Azizullah Khan told The Express Tribune that as many as 20 students have fallen unconscious in different parts the province due to the heat.

He said that compared to Peshawar, the southern regions of the province, including areas such as Karak, Dera Ismail Khan, and Hangu are even warmer.

Azizullah explained that owing to Ramazan, the K-PESED had announced summer vacations early in plain areas on May 17 instead of the predetermined date of May 31.

As a result, schools had reopened 15 days early. However, it was still quite warm. The APTA president shared that despite improvement, there are still hundreds of schools in the province which are without power or clean dirking water.

He asked the concerned department to take notice of this issue and extend the summer vacations until August 31.

When contacted, K-PESED Director Farid Khattak acknowledged the incidents and said that department will discuss the issue on Monday with senior officials. He further explained that the extension of vacations was a policy issue which is why the department cannot take any action on its own.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2018.