Children in a school assembly in Jammu. File picture

Thiruvananthapuram, June 17: Children should not be made to stand in the school assembly for more than 15 minutes even if the authorities feel the morning exposure will help them imbibe Vitamin D, the Kerala human rights commission has said.

The commission had sent a notice to the principal of Bhavans Vidyasram School at Chelembra, near Calicut University, following reports that several students had fainted at the assembly on June 4. In Kerala, school assemblies are as a rule held in the open.

The parents were angry that the school had not called off the extended session even after several children had dropped to the ground unconscious. But the principal, V.P. Menoki, was unfazed.

“It (fainting in the assembly) takes place in all schools. Children who came without breakfast might have fainted,” he said, adding sarcastically that “children who can’t bear the sun usually find an excuse to skip the assembly”.

The issue was brought before the commission by Naseema, head of the education department at Calicut University, who said schools should look for less oppressive sites to address students rather than torture them in the sun. “Anyway, not more than 15 minutes,” she pleaded.

But the school fielded a naturopath, James Vadakkumchery, who argued that exposure to the sun and physical exercises were essential to children’s growth.

Justice V.P. Mohan Kumar, the commission member who heard the matter, did not go into the merits of using the school assembly for Vitamin D nutrition. He said he would consult experts before arriving at a final opinion, but would for now ask the state government to limit morning assemblies to 15 minutes.

Vitamin D develops and maintains the strength of bones, and its deficiency can cause rickets in children, with weak, brittle or misshapen bones. Its sources include fish, fish oils and sunshine, whose ultra-violet rays trigger vitamin D synthesis in the skin.

But the need for exposure to the sun would generally be met while children travelled to school or played outdoors.

“In any case, 15 minutes is enough,” said Apurba Ghosh, director of the Institute of Child Health, Calcutta. “Over-exposure to sunrays can lead to cancer.”

In Bengal, education officials said, open-air assemblies are rare. Government schools hold their assemblies separately in each classroom while private schools usually have assembly halls. “There’s no time limit but they take less than 15 minutes.”

The schools aren’t the only ones guilty.

Last week, the National Human Rights Commission rapped the Uttar Pradesh government for making hundreds of schoolchildren stand in the sun for three hours on Gandhi Jayanti two years ago. Forty-nine children had collapsed in the Kanpur stadium waiting for the chief guests, Samajwadi Party leaders Amar Singh and Jaya Prada, to arrive.

In Kerala, parents and students are still waiting for guidelines on the other big problem: heavy school bags.

The high court had said a pre-primary schoolbag mustn’t be heavier than one-tenth of the child’s body weight. It cited how a preschool child carried a load of around 4 kg while a college student carried just 1 kg.

The court also said children should not be burdened with homework. The schools have ignored both directives.