R.I.P Akriti

The news about the death of Delhi school girl Akriti Bhatia,due to negligence of school authorities has left me numb with shock. I fail to understand why the school authorities were waiting till 11a.m when the girl started having breathing problems at 10a.m. As per newspaper and television reports,its known that the principal of the school was waiting for the akriti's car to arrive from home(which according to akriti's family is a 45minutes drive from the school),while there were so many cars parked near the school premises. Considering the urgency of the situation,the principal should have used her own car to take akriti to the hospital. In a situation like this,where "TIME" is the KEY factor,the school authorities were just wasting it!! Time, precious time..Time that could have saved Akriti's life! But alas.....

The second allegation that came up,was that the school nurse who was looking after Akriti,had put an oxygen mask on her face,but had removed it later when Akriti was being taken to the hospital,claiming that the mask was school property & hence had to be removed!!! I guess safeguarding school's "property" was more important than a student's life..I mean how much can it matter if you lose one student??Certainly not more than the troubles they would have to go through if that "School's property" was misplaced, isnt it?The newspaper report today,also said that Akriti was forced to gulp down a glass of fresh lime soda on which the girl choked. Now a glass of soda can never be fatal,but yes,if given to a person gasping for breath,the results can be otherwise.. I wonder if the school authorities didn't know about the "nebulizer". Or perhaps, they thought that the fresh lime soda would prove to be more effective than the nebulizer!

No matter how much we crib about his issue, rage at the negligence of the school authorities,the fact remains that Akriti is no more. What is important now,is to make sure that no other student meets the same unlucky fate as Akriti. Now this raises anotherequi pertinent question. Are ur schools well equipped, to deal with situations like these?Do they have the necessary facilities to ensure the well being of their students or are more such Akritis there in the offing? Akriti's school is a very posh school,with students from affluent families. Yet in such a school, a terrible incident such as this occured. Sad but shocking.

How many schools out here have a full time doctor to take care of emergency situations like these?Akriti's school still had a nurse,might not have been competent and trained enough,but still the school had the facility of a nurse. How many schools here can boast of having trained nurses? Instead of nurses,we have ayahs,who are best equipped to tackle children in playgrounds,give basic first aid,helping out the kids in the loo etc. God forbid if a situation like Akriti's arises out here, I think the student shall meet with the same fate! Its high time school authorities sit up and take notice of their shortcomings & get the schools well equipped to deal with any emergency situations..