Jajpur: In a shocking incident, a Class 4 student died after he was allegedly  made to do sit-ups by his school teacher in Kuakhia block of Odisha's Jajpur district on Tuesday. The deceased was identified as son of one Nityananda Sethy of Orali village in the block. He was studying in Surya Narayan Nodal School here.

As per reports, the minor boy had gone up to the school terrace with three of his friends at around 3 pm. When the teacher found out, he made all the children do sit-ups. However, the boy collapsed after squatting  twice. He was first rushed to Madhuban hospital from where he was shifted to Dharmasala. As his condition deteriorated, he was referred to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack but doctors declared him dead on arrival.

While the exact cause of death has not been ascertained yet, family members of the deceased alleged that the boy died after doing the sit-ups.

"He was my only son. Like any other day, he had gone to school and was perfectly healthy. I don't know what happened at the school. Suddenly I received a call from a few persons that my boy had fallen unconscious after doing the sit-ups and asked me to reach at the earliest. By the time I came, it was an hour late. It is common sense that when a child falls sick or there's any emergency, the school authorities should immediately take action and facilitate medical assistance instead of waiting for the parent to turn up. Had they acted swiftly, my child would have been saved," alleged Nityananda, the boy's father.

The boy's grandmother made similar claims. "My grandson was completely fine. He had his food in the morning but didn't have his lunch. He played near the temple and then went back to school. We don't know what transpired there. All we know is that the children were made to do sit-ups 20 times and my grandson collapsed after doing two sets. We want justice," she said.

Kulamanu Sahu, a retired teacher from Baransa, too denounced the approach of teachers towards children in schools and said children have to be dealt with a lot of care and affection. "Teachers take on the role of parents in schools. But this does not mean that they should resort to harsh punishments that can have such tragic consequences," he told mediapersons.

Meanwhile, official sources said the postmortem report will confirm the exact cause of death. Till reports last came in, no complaint had been filed with Kuakhia police.