School students fall unconscious due to extreme heatwave in Bihar

Several students in a number of schools in at least three districts in Bihar fell unconscious due to extreme heatwave conditions on Wednesday, officials said. Bihar recorded its all-time high maximum temperature at 47.7 degrees Celsius in Aurangabad on Tuesday. The state is reeling under sizzling heat as the day temperature crossed 44 deg C at several places in the state on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Secretary Brajesh Mehrotra called a high-level meeting on Wednesday to review the preparedness of departments concerned in view of the extreme heatwave in the state. "A high-level meeting of the crisis management group of the state government has been called by the Chief Secretary at 3.30 pm today to review the preparedness of departments concerned in view of the extreme heatwave conditions in the state," the Additional Chief Secretary of Disaster Management Department of Bihar government, Pratyaya Amrit, told PTI.

Talking to reporters, Suresh Prasad, the Headmaster of a middle school at Mankaul in Sheikhpura district said, "Due to extreme heatwave conditions on Wednesday, around 6-7 students fainted during the assembly



prayers. We tried to provide first aid. Students are facing a lot of difficulties. Similar incidents of students fainting in classrooms were reported from Begusarai district and Motihari in East Champaran district.

Meanwhile, commenting on the incidents of school students falling unconscious, RJD leader and former state Deputy Chief Minister, Tejashwi Yadav, said, "The state government must take the matter seriously. Preventive steps should be taken immediately to protect school children from the heatwave conditions. The day temperature is touching 48 degrees Celsius, but schools are open."

"Why is Chief Minister Nitish Kumar not intervening in the matter? Why has the CM become so weak?" he asked. "The CM's instructions are not being followed by the bureaucrats in the state. He must look into it. It's a serious matter concerning the health of school students," said Yadav. Meanwhile, the IMD has predicted that heatwave conditions are likely to prevail over the state in another three or four days. "People are advised to avoid heat exposure, keep cool and avoid dehydration," said a senior official of the Bihar Disaster Management Department.