Experts expose chinks in St Francis armour

​Hyderabad: Experts from sports school dismissed the claims of management of the St Francis Girls High School, Secunderabad which found fault with the students and parents.  

It may be mentioned here that the school has hit the headlines following a Class VI student being rushed to hospital after she developed chest pain after her physical education teacher (PET) reportedly asked her to run 60 laps around the playground.

The school management in its circular released in the aftermath of the incident had claimed that the CCTV footages show that the student was not following instructions to do the warm-up exercise. It further claimed that the footage also showed the girl hardly running. 

The school headmistress termed that false allegations were being made against the school, and has cited CCTV recordings as a proof to back up the management’s line. The school had also blamed the parents for not giving prior intimation on the health issues of the student.

However, speaking to The Hans India, a faculty member from the Telangana State Sports School, Secunderabad said, “The onus is on the PET to check whether a student of a certain age could run 10 laps or 60 laps, before asking them to do so.” 

Taking a similar view, Dr Grace Helina, Professor and Head, Department of Exercise Physiology and Biomechanics of Tamil Nadu Sports University said every student is different. The coaches should be capable of making a distinction between the students' suitability for ‘aerobic’ and ‘anaerobic’ exercises before asking to do them. 

Adding, Prof Helina said that some students might not be in a position to do even two laps if the ground is bigger. In the absence of specialist coaches for each segment like exercise, psychology, medical issues and the like, the schools should provide necessary orientation to the PETs. 

In turn, this would help them not to treat every student in the same manner and draw general conclusions and prescribe them the same kind of exercise, she said. Meanwhile, when contacted, Hyderabad District Education Officer Venkata Narasamma said, the education official concerned has investigated into the issue. 

“We have received the CCTV footage. Preliminary investigations revealed that the girl was handed over a punishment to run 10 laps in the ground,” she said.

Further, she said that there might be some exaggeration on the part of agitating parents that the girl in question was asked to run 60 laps. However, even handing over punishment to run 10 laps are against the rules and we are taking necessary action, she added.