An 11-year-old student suffered severe burns apparently when the stove she was cooking on burst on the premises of a Ballygunge school during a fete on Thursday afternoon.

Police said Sakina Khatoon - a Class V student at Ballygunge Vidyalaya and Silpa Sikshayatan - had brought the stove that had burst from home.

The child is being treated at SSKM Hospital, where her condition was stated to be critical.

"The girl was cooking on the stove when it caught fire and burst, burning her considerably. Her mother was standing nearby when the accident occurred," said an officer of Gariahat police station.

Sakina and many other students of the Ballygunge Place school were cooking food to be sold at an exhibition-cum-sale on the institution's premises.

Though questions have been raised as to why the children were allowed to cook on fire without proper supervision, the school authorities told Metro that they had circulated a notice banning the use of fire for cooking in school.

"We had issued a notice asking all students to bring only snacks for the exhibition. We had categorically mentioned that they should not cook on fire on the campus," said Tony Bari, the teacher-in-charge of the school.

Till late on Thursday, police did not receive any complaint from Sakina's guardian.

Education department officials said they were unaware of the incident."We'll look into the matter tomorrow," said Kalyanmoy Ganguly, president, West Bengal Board of Secondary Education.