Gurgaon: Children more prone to viral, attendance drops in schools

Many schools in Gurgaon have begun to report a drop in attendance, with children and teachers falling ill due to viral infections rampant in the city.

Many schools in Gurgaon have begun to report a drop in attendance, with children and teachers falling ill due to viral infections rampant in the city.

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“Children have started to complain of stomach ache and vomiting. Every day, I see two to three children in the school’s medical room,” said Anita Makkar, principal of DAV Public School.

Similar is the case with the students and teachers of The Heritage School.

“There has been a drop in attendance due to viral fever in the past few days. Not only students, but our teachers too have taken ill. Though they come to school, they have to leave after they found themselves down with high fever,” said Kaye Jacob, associate director, The Heritage School.

Doctors have gauged the intensity of viral fever on children to be manifold as compared with that on adults.

“The number of children coming into the paediatric section is increasing. On Wednesday itself we saw about 30 cases. If an adult gets fever, we know he will recover soon. But if it is a child reporting of high body temperature, a sense of fear sets in. Most of these children are in the age group of 2 to 10 years,” said Dr Krishan Chugh, head of the paediatrics department at Fortis Memorial Research Institute.

Anticipating a further increase in viral cases involving children, school managements have started issuing directives to make parents aware about the precautionary steps in this regard. “We have sent out warning through email to all parents regarding the precautions to be taken against viral fever, malaria and dengue,” said Rupa Chakravarty, principal, Suncity School.

“My child has been running high fever for the last one week and has not attended school. His studies are getting affected,” said the mother of a 10-year-old.