Kerala girl's death by snake bite highlights condition of schools

Even though death due to snakebite is common in India, I was shocked to read that a nine-year-old student died after being bitten by a snake in the classroom in Kerala. What’s more shocking is that after the matter was reported to the teacher, he did not care enough to get the child some medical attention. It was only after her limbs began to turn blue did the teacher treat the case seriously. This caused a delay of delay of nearly 45 minutes which eventually caused the girl to lose her life. Had the teacher acted with presence of mind and taken the girl to a hospital, she could have perhaps been saved. Here the question arises why the teacher was so indifferent to the complaint of the pupil and why did the school administration allow the building to degrade to the point that snakes began to live in holes in classrooms. The incident is a rude wake-up call to the poor condition of public education institutes in the country.

— V Girijalakshmi, via e-mail