ISLAMABAD: At least 25 students fell unconscious on Wednesday due to prolonged load shedding at a government school due to the intense summer heat.
The students of a school in Milpur area suffered immensely due to the sweltering heat and load prolonged load shedding. According to the school administration, the electricity supply was suspended since morning but WAPDA did not restore the supply.
The students started to dehydrate and fell unconscious while some children started bleeding from the nose due to extreme weather after which their teacher poured water over their heads. The students have been admitted to a nearby hospital where they were provided medical aid. After the incident, 200 school children were allowed to go home absence of power in the school.
The parents of the children complained that there were there was no arrangement of electricity in the school. The district administration should immediately take notice of the matter as it is beyond comprehension to call students in the intense heat.
The parents said that the government should immediately announce summer vacations so that the children could escape the heat. They said the fans in schools were not working and there was no adequate provision of drinking water. They added that opening schools in June was tantamount to putting children in trouble.
They said due to the unavailability of drinking water in educational institutions, it has become extremely difficult for children to get an education. They demanded that the government should announce a holiday in view of the extreme heat and load shedding.
Meanwhile, the federal government changed the timings of the schools in Islamabad due to the ongoing heatwave in the city. A notification said that institutes operating in a single shift can remain open from 7am till 11am from Monday to Thursday. It further stated that schools operating two shifts will have classes on Friday and Saturday from 7am till 11am.
The government also allowed all schools of the federal capital to operate at 50% capacity on the allotted days. Earlier, the school timings were 8am till 1pm.
The change of timings comes two days after students of grades 1-8 returned to schools in Islamabad after the government allowed the resumption of in-person classes.
The decision to reopen schools was taken after the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) gave the approval for in-person classes amid a decline in the coronavirus cases in the federal capital.
