The April heat has been relentless with the mercury hitting 29-30 degrees Celsius these last few days. The dry spell exacerbated by strong winds is causing dust clouds all around. The climate has changed irreversibly and humans need to reset their programmes too. Educational institutions normally use the dry months of March-April for their school sports. This was fine when the weather was a lot kinder and the hottest that Shillong got was 24 degrees Celsius. But to make children practise their march past and drill or to make them run in the sweltering summer heat is insensitive. It is true that organising sporting events is part of every school’s calendar because sports have many physical, developmental, psychological and social benefits for children. Playing any sport helps children learn to control their emotions and channel negative feelings in a positive way. Playing sport helps children build resilience and feel better about themselves. Also, during sporting events children are able to express themselves freely on the field which is not possible in a classroom.
But the flip side is also true. Not every child has a strong constitution. Some are allergic to dust and some are inherently weak physically and therefore have a low tolerance for extreme heat or cold. While the objective of the school is to toughen the students and make them battle-ready to face adverse circumstances and that must be appreciated, there is a point at which children cannot be pushed beyond their limits. Being children they are diffident of taking a stand for themselves. This is not what is taught in schools. Unquestioning obedience is expected, nay demanded and there can be no arguments once a teacher has said something.
But these are not normal times. High temperature and high humidity are particularly dangerous. Sports coaches and teachers ought to be careful about making children play strenuous games in such conditions. Besides, children and teenagers are vulnerable to heat-related illnesses such as dehydration, heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke because their bodies are less efficient at cooling. This calls for a revision of the school calendar. Perhaps schools should now reopen sooner and sporting events should be held by the month of February-March. There is no hard and fast rule that schools should stick to the school calendar they did twenty years ago because climate change dictates otherwise. Summer holidays are being rescheduled in many states. So why not Meghalaya?
The Education Department needs to take a call on this and reset the school calendar according to the weather conditions. With Climate Change, summers have become extremely hot while winters are extremely cold. This requires reformatting the school examination schedules, co-curricular activities and even school timings. In summers, schools could start early to beat the heat. Sports and games can happen in the morning. This is called climate adaptation.