School Education and literacy department secretary Aradhana Patnaik on Wednesday issued a circular to all 24 District Commissioners to act promptly and make all essential arrangements on campus premises of Government schools to beat the scorching heat.
The State has been reeling under severe hot weather conditions with the maximum temperatures soaring around 40 degrees Celsius, which is 5 to 6 degrees Celsius above the normal, for the past few days.
Apart rescheduling school timing from 6:30 AM to 11:30 AM of all the primary, middle and high Government schools functioning in state, Patnaik has also issued few necessary guidelines to protect children from the ill-effects of early summers.
According to the circular, proper arrangement of drinking water on the campus premises of the schools must be ensured by the authorities concerned. The circular mentions, if hand pumps are not in proper condition, it should be immediately repaired to address the problem of water crisis or authorities must make some proper alternative arrangements to meet the purpose.
looking at the weather condition all medicines required must be made available in the schools for addressing the primary health care need, in case any child at school falls ill.
With the consideration of Health department medicines on Diarrhoea, heat stroke, sun stroke, sun burn and other medicines for summer related health problem must be made available to all the schools in stimulated timeframe including availability of oral rehydration solution (ORS).
As the state faces acute water crisis problem after the depletion of ground level water, which has also resulted in disruption of mid-day meal schemes at several schools, it has been instructed to the officials in charge to provide fresh food to kids irrespective of anything, as mid-day meal must not suffer due to water crisis problem.
Similarly, all circular and co-circular excursions must be avoided for the time being and in order to protect kids from heat strokes. Considering a step ahead, it has been instructed to the school authorities to arrange medical check up camps for all students on every Saturday with the assistance of Primary Health Centre (PHC) and Community Health Centres (CHC).
Acting on the directive Ranchi Deputy Commissioner has issued a notice today to all Government and private schools limiting their timings to 12:30 PM.
The schools may start from early morning and will not continue after 12:30. The order is meant for all students studying from Class I to XII.