As Zika count rises to 135, school for special kids waits for fogging

Five more positive cases of Zika virus have been reported in Jaipur, taking the count to 135 since the first case was reported on September 22. Barring ten, all have recovered. But its municipal corporation, which has repeatedly made claims about keeping areas near schools safe by regular fogging, is yet to carry out fogging even once on the premises of the school meant for children with special needs.

The premises of Seth Anandi Lal Poddar Mook Badhir Senior Secondary School, which also houses two hostels (one each for boys and girls), has been completely devoid of fogging, according to the school’s support staff.

There are 165 students living in the boys’ hostel and 120 in the girls’ hostel. The school for deaf and dumb has a total strength of 900 students and 90 teachers.

In the wake of continued rise of Zika virus in Jaipur, the state education department issued directions for school teachers to be trained in identifying mosquito breeding sites. More than 700 teachers were trained, who, in turn, gave lessons to the students to identify the sites and report them back to the teachers.

While no such training sessions for the students of the ALP school took place, fogging too has remained at bay.

Sumitra Kanwar, warden at the girls’ hostel, said that the fogging did not take place on the hostel’s premises or even outside in the past few years.

“Children do report about headaches and fever. We usually call their parents and send them home,”said Kanwar.

“We mostly send the students to Sawai Man Singh Hospital when they report fever and from there to their homes straightaway,” said Shayam Bahadur Sharma, warden for boys’ hostel.

The wardens are not trained in sign language to talk to the students but claim to have learned it “with experience”.

Meanwhile, with the cases on rise, the health department has started a toll free number (1800 180 6127) to provide information on Zika, additional chief secretary Veenu Gupta said, adding the number would receive calls between 8am and 8pm every day.

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