THE TERROR OF THE TICKS

Students forced to stay out of school in Hatton while health and education authorities appear to be paying little heed

By Nalaka Nonis

They are on the walls, the floors, windows, books, desks and chairs. In short, it’s a tick invasion at Ireby Tamil Vidyalaya in the hilly village of Norwood in Hatton and students and teachers have fallen sick due to tick-bites.

When we visited the school on Thursday, the students had returned after another break only to be told to go back as the situation was still bad.

Students involved in cleaning-up operations

Since July this year, the school has been shut down four times, sometimes 15 days at a stretch and once again it has been shut down and school officials charge that education authorities are doing little to curb the menace.The students of this school are mainly poor estate workers’ children and many of them are suffering from rashes and fever forcing the parents to seek medical help, adding to their economic burdens.

School officials say the school has been infested by ticks from bats that occupy the buildings at night. They charge that initially only one building of the school had been infested by the ticks, but since little had been done to get rid of them, the ticks had spread to the rest of the school.

The school has 558 students and 20 teachers and for the first time since the school started in 1994 more than 30 students are to sit for the O/Levels this year.

Commenting on the growing menace, the principal P. Nithyakalyani said school authorities did their best with the limited funds and resources of the school to get rid of the ticks but it was too big a problem and they had too little funds to handle the situation on their own.

Some teachers waiting for the classrooms to be cleaned out

She lamented that when the Zonal Education Office in Hatton was informed of the problem, she had been told that monies had not been allocated to tackle such situations.

“We desperately wanted funds and advice from the Zonal Education Office to buy insecticides to get rid of the ticks but we were asked to use funds from the school development society,” the principal said.

She said they had little funds in the development society and they were compelled to depend on the .benevolence of outsiders.

An assistant director at Hatton’s Zonal Education Office admitted they had no funds to allocate for spraying insecticides on ticks but gave instructions to close the school from time to time.

The principal believes that the lack of funds and lack of advice on what kind of insecticide to use may have even aggravated the situation.

She said though both the Medical Officer of Health (MOH) of Nuwara Eliya and the Public Health Inspector (PHI) of Dickoya had advised the school to spray insecticides they hadn’t prescribed a specific kind, at least not initially.

“As they didn’t prescribe a particular kind of insecticide we went to a Vet who advised us to use a spray called Notix C.P and later Bayticol E.C. But both weren’t effective,” Ms. Nithyakalyani said.

She said in spite of spraying the insecticides the ticks were multiplying and health authorities should look into the problem urgently. She charged that they hadn’t even carried out a proper study on the insects.

She also charged that since the school didn’t get any assistance from health officers to spray insecticides, students and parents had to step in at a risk to their health.

She said they had so far sprayed insecticides three times at a cost of Rs. 12,000.

She said some people had helped them financially to buy some of the bottles of insecticide. They had also got some bottles on debt from a shop after an area provincial councillor had promised to pay for them. However, she said the provincial councillor was yet to keep his promise.

The ticks have not only affected the students and teachers physically but also mentally.

A Shiromani, an English teacher said attendance among students had dropped sharply in the past three months because of the fear of being bitten by the ticks. She said even those who were coming to school were finding it difficult to concentrate on their studies.

Grade 10 student, M. Ashwini, said she got blisters on her hands, face and neck and had an itchy reaction and fever after she was bitten by ticks.

Another student J. Pradeep said he was bitten on his stomach, hands and neck and later developed a fever. The student who will be sitting for his O/L levels this year said he and others were finding it difficult to concentrate on their work as they were always trying to avoid being bitten by the ticks.

Meanwhile, B.A. Baskaran, Dickoya’s PHI said they would be sending some insects to the Medical Research Institute (MRI) in Colombo for study and for the recommendation of an effective insecticide that would kill off the insects.

The school was closed on Friday and is scheduled to open once again on October 2.