E-Paper
Viral flu, cough & cold rises among children leading to absenteeism
Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, schools in the state were closed for the last two years and students were attending online classes instead. As the vaccination of children started, the state government decided to reopen schools and colleges for the new academic year 2022-23
While there has been a good response from students to the reopening of schools and offline classes in the state since June 15, it has been noticed in the last eight days or so that most students, especially those attending primary school, are now suffering from cold, cough and viral flu. Whereas parents are blaming it on the bad weather and a delayed start to the rainy season which is affecting their children while travelling to and from school.
Vruna Chavan, a parent, said, “Since the last two days, my son who is in Class 3 has cold and fever. He has been regularly attending classes ever since school reopened. We are taking all necessary precautions related to Covid-19 as he is told to wear a face mask all the time. Still, he is down with cold which is due to the change in climate over the past few days. Even the rains have started now and so many children in his school are getting infected.”
Keshav Mundada, another parent, said, “The risk of the Covid pandemic has not yet ended and various new variants are still coming up. In the last one month, the number of Covid cases is again increasing. However, at our own risk, we are sending our children to school and now my daughter who is in Class 5 has cold and cough since last week. She said some of her friends in the school bus had cold and cough earlier and she might have caught it from them.”
Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, schools in the state were closed for the last two years and students were attending online classes instead. As the vaccination of children started and the number of cases started decreasing, the state government decided to reopen schools and colleges for the new academic year 2022-23. Accordingly, all government and private-run schools have begun offline classes in Pune and students are travelling by various modes of transport including school buses, vans and auto-rickshaws and parents too are dropping them to school.
The principal of a prominent school in Pune city on condition of anonymity said, “It is true that from the past five to six days, there are many cases of students remaining absent from school because of viral fever, cold or cough. This is a worrying situation for all of us; it might be due to the climate change as the rainy season is starting and usually, children fall sick at this time of the year. We have strictly instructed parents not to send their children to school till they get well as it should not spread among other students.”
While Dr Mangesh Kendre, paediatrician, said, “We are currently flooded with cases of children down with viral flu, cold and cough from all around the city. It is a normal situation as it happens every year at the beginning of the monsoon and so, parents should not panic. Instead, the child should be immediately taken to the family paediatrician for a checkup and with proper medicines and rest, the child would be cured soon.”
