On 25th February (Wednesday), a 4-year-old kid was mauled by stray dogs on his very first day of school inside the campus, resulting in critical injuries. The incident happened at the Swami Vivekananda Model School in Sridungargarh’s Upni hamlet in Bikaner region of Rajasthan. He went to the institution along with his older brother and reportedly left his classroom after over an hour and a half.
According to the villagers, there was no security guard on duty at the time, and the school’s main gate was open. The victim was attacked by stray dogs that had walked inside the premises. The school staff was not immediately alerted by his cries or the barking of the animals.
However, a local came running to the scene after hearing the commotion and saved him from the hounds. He was admitted to PBM Hospital, and the doctors stated that he had suffered severe injuries and would need several surgeries. They added that the dogs have eaten away at his scalp, which can only be repaired through plastic surgery. His ear was also bitten, and he had scratches all over his body.
According to the doctors, the course of treatment would be drawn out, and the regeneration of the scalp skin could take up to a year. The youngster might even require several plastic procedures as well as close medical supervision and care.
“The boy was severely injured with the skin on the scalp scratched completely in the incident and was immediately rushed to PBM Hospital in Bikaner. His condition is stable now, but he is under observation. The school gate was open, and the stray dog entered when the boy had gone to drink water and ran towards the gate,” mentioned Kishandan Charan, district education officer for elementary education.
Villagers are furious after the tragedy and question why, given the warnings about stray dogs, preventive measures were not implemented. They also expressed concern about the main gate being open and the lack of security guards. According to Principal Subhash Meena, the boy quickly left after heading to the washroom. He reported that there had previously been concerns about aggressive dogs near the school gate. The Chief Block Education Officer, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) and the police administration have all been informed about the occurrence.
The government of Rajasthan instructed government-run schools to keep stray dogs off their campuses in January. All government schools were told to “immediately arrange for removal of stray dogs from school premises” in the secondary education department’s release.
