A swarm of bees covers a hive on the verandah of the school. The Telegraph photographer had warned the students before taking the picture to stay away from the hive. Picture by Biplab Basak

Jalpaiguri, Feb. 21: Bees have built at least 11 honeycombs in a high school in Jalpaiguri’s Rajgunj, where students have been stung and often have to rush out with books covering their faces when buzzing swarms attack classrooms.

On Thursday, five students were stung by the bees.

The buzz is that the forest department had repeatedly ignored the pleas from the school to get rid of the hives. The authorities of Mudipara Nagendranath High School are worried that they will not be able to guarantee the safety of the Madhyamik examinees. The school is a Madhyamik centre and the board exam starts on Friday.

The teachers of the school said the bees, attracted by fields of mustard flowers nearby, have been building the honeycombs in the classrooms and in the verandah for the past one month.

“On Thursday five students, from classes V and VII, were stung by the bees. There are about 1,500 students in our school and we are sometimes forced to hold classes out in the open. We had called some local people and had removed seven of the 11 hives, but the bees rebuild them once again,” said Balendranath Roy, the secretary of the managing committee of the school.

He said sometimes kites swooped in and attacked the hives, which disturbed the bees and send them flying into the classrooms.

“We have informed the forest department, but till today they have not taken any steps to remove the hives,” he said.

Doctors said bee sting can lead to severe allergy, respiratory distress, fever and in case of infants, can be fatal too. “Bee sting usually leads to severe allergic reactions that cause swelling of limbs and face apart from the severe pain.

The respiratory tract can also get choked leading to respiratory distress,” said critical care expert Subrata Maitra. “In case of infants it can also be fatal, too.”

Headmaster Barendranath Roy said the school is the examination centre for students of Belakoba High School and Keralpara High School. “The exams starts on February 24 and 272 candidates will be here. We have not been able to start numbering the seats because of the bees. We have two more days to complete the arrangements and I have very serious reservations about the safety of the examinees if the hives are not removed.”

He said the first hive had appeared about two months ago, but the bees soon left. “Never before had we had such an infestation of bees,” the headmaster said.

“We had informed the forest department last Monday. They were supposed to send people to remove the hives on Saturday, but nobody arrived,” he added.

Bees usually take two-three days to build a hive.

The divisional forest officer of Jalpaiguri, Kalyan Das, said though the school had appealed to him first, the area where the school is located is not under his jurisdiction.

“It comes under the Baikunthapur forest division. The range office in Belakoba has been instructed to remove the hives as soon as possible,” Das said.

Das said bees build their hives within a 2km-radius of flowering mustard fields. “It is very common but I cannot say why they chose the school. The bees choose trees as well as houses to build hives,” the DFO said.

Azhar Ali, a student of Class VII, said whenever there was a beet attack he and his friends rush out of the classroom, even if is in the middle of a lesson. “We cover our heads with books and run to the fields,” he said.

Dilruba Parveen, a Class XI girl, who was stung on her right arm said classes had become irregular. “How long will this go on? I was among those who got stung and it was painful. The area on my upper right arm swelled. My mother put lime on the area after removing the sting. I was feverish the rest of the day,” she said.

Jalpaiguri district magistrate Smaraki Mahapatra said she did not know about the beehives in school. “I will ask the divisional forest officer of Baikunthapur to immediately take action,” she said.

The DFO of Baikunthapur, Dharmadeo Rai, said local honey gatherers have been contacted to remove the hives. “We will destroy all the hives by tomorrow,” Rai said.

The operation is usually carried out at night when the bees fly direction-less. “Husk and sesame is set on fire to smoke out the bees. The smoke hurts them,” said a honey gatherer.