Odisha girl escapes with minor injury as mobile phone explodes during online class

The cause of the explosion is not known, however, mobile phone technicians guess it could be due to a faulty part or overheating of the phone.

A Kendriya Vidyalaya student from Puri district of Odisha escaped with minor injuries when her mobile phone exploded during online classes on Tuesday.

The girl said she was lucky to have escaped with minor burn injuries on her hand. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Rupsa Pallai, standard VII student of Kendriya Vidyalaya in Puri’s Adarshnagar area was taking notes during her online class on her mobile phone when it exploded. She sustained minor burn injuries.

“Luckily, I escaped with minor scalds on my left palm. It could have been worse,” said the girl.

In Odisha, government and private schools have been offering online classes due to the lockdown. Mobile phone technicians said the explosion may have happened due to some defective part of the phone or overheating.

A recent survey of New Delhi-based National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), conducted across 419 government and private institutes, found that an estimated 90 lakh students in government institutions may not be able to access online education due to electricity problem or the unavailability of the smartphone or the laptop.

The report said that the inability to access online lessons will shrink overall enrolment in higher education institutes by 60 lakh students, to 3.1 crore from 3.7 crore.