ARIYALUR: It was a usual Thursday morning at the Government High School at Solankudikadu, until the students opened the toilet door and saw a snake slithering inside.
Petrified, the students shouted for help. Teachers and headmaster (in-charge) A Veeramani rushed to the spot only to find five more snakes near the toilet on the school campus.
The school functions with 394 students from Classes 6 to 10 with a well-maintained campus. However, it is at a disadvantage due to lack of a proper compound wall and growth of Seemai Karuvelam trees around it.
After spotting six snakes on the school premises, the teachers reached out to Fire and Rescue Services personnel. By the time the personnel arrived, the headmaster had already killed five snakes with a stick, while one managed to slither away.
Veeramani told TNIE, “The school is in a forest area and is surrounded by Seemai Karuvelam trees. Now that it is the rainy season, we are taking precautionary measures. Unfortunately, we saw snakes inside the campus. I killed the snakes without delay. We advise the students to make noise while entering their classrooms or toilets every day. This apart, we also clean the school toilet and premises daily.”
A student of Class 10 said, “We suddenly spotted five more snakes and were scared, but the headmaster killed them. The teachers have also created awareness, including how to protect ourselves from venomous reptiles.”
In a paper titled, ‘Snakebite and its Socio-Economic Impact on the Rural Population of Tamil Nadu, India’, Sakthivel Vaiyapuri from the Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research, University of Reading, UK, states around 10,000 people die of snakebite in Tamil Nadu each year.
He had conducted a community survey in Erode district that revealed almost 13-14 per cent of children between 0-10 years in three villages suffered snakebite.
The numbers increased to almost 19 per cent in the 11-20 age group.