All work, no play?

Shimla, March 27: A group of 16 children from a government school studied for 108 hours at a stretch, with little food and no sleep, for a place in the record books.

The Class IX students of Moginand Government Senior Secondary School ? 11 boys and five girls ? sat with their books on March 17 at 8 am and stayed put till 8 pm on March 21.

The school is in Sirmour district, 164 km from here.

“The students are around 15 years old. They were not given cereals during the 108 hours and survived on oranges, grapes and tea. Besides a regular medical check-up, they were also given glucose to avoid dehydration,” Sanjeev Attri, a 39-year-old science teacher who masterminded the attempt, said.

If food was meagre, sleep was nil. “Besides senior officials of the education department, we were also supervised by media persons at night. None of the students blinked during the marathon study record. Students were given tea when sleep was beyond control,” Attri announced with pride.

The students had an audience of 200.

The attempt, however, was futile as representatives from the Limca Book of Records and Guinness Book of Records ? both were invited ? failed to turn up. “Limca Book of Records had promised to come, but only contacted (us) when the record was over,” Paramjeet Singh, the deputy director of higher education, said.

But Attri is not ready to give up. He has sent another invite to the Guinness Book of Records when the students sit for a second marathon study session.

The attempt, which comes at a time when a drive is on across the country to reduce stress in education, has some teachers frowning.

“I can only call it cruelty if students are kept confined in a school for more than 100 hours at a stretch?. The whole exercise is absolutely inhuman, against child rights and a kind of child abuse. Such an act is not acceptable for any records,” said J.K. Sen, principal of Julien Day School, Ganganagar, in Calcutta.

“I would definitely support a school if it organises a carnival? I wonder how the school managed to get the parents’ permission for detaining the students so long,” added Sen, who is also the general secretary of the Association of Heads of Anglo-Indian Schools in West Bengal.

Attri, however, defended his attempt.

“If the students practise not to sleep during exam days or sleep less, they can get more marks. The students who created the record were taught six chapters and scored good marks in the class test taken during the marathon study record. In fact, the students were also given story and other books of their interest to break the monotony. They were also shown a slide show,” he said.