A fourth standard girl of Government Higher Secondary School at Mankara, near here, stepped on a snake while entering her classroom on Monday, triggering hours of anxiety about the student getting envenomed.
The incident took place at 9.30 a.m. when Ashraya, daughter of Santhosh from Mankara, entered the classroom along with her friends. The girl accidentally stepped on a three-foot dark brown snake with white stripes on it, and the snake coiled around her leg briefly. In panic, the girl shook her leg forcibly, hurling the snake to a corner. The snake then sneaked into a cupboard in the classroom.
Teachers rushed Ashraya to the District Hospital here, where the doctors certified that she was not bitten or envenomed by the snake.
The teachers killed the snake, and said that it was a krait. They claimed it was highly poisonous and it was by sheer luck that the girl escaped unbitten. However, later it was found that the snake was not venomous. The girl was kept under observation at the hospital until the authorities at the Snake Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre at Malampuzha certified that the snake had no venom.
Meanwhile, local people protested against the circumstances that led to the incident. They blamed the authorities for the incident. They said that the surroundings of the school building were unclean and had bushes. This led to the snake entering the classroom, they said.
