9 students injured after lightning strikes school

Koderma: Nine students, including eight girls, were injured after lightning struck a private school in the district on Wednesday morning.
As a spell of rain and thunder swept through the district, lightning struck the premises of Saint Maurya School in Vidhaniya Mauja under Paplo panchayat under Markachho police station limits around 11:30 am.
The injured students, Roshni Kumari (10), Riya Kumari (6), Anisha Kumari (11,), Sujata Kumari (15), Anjum Khatoon (15), Priya Kumari (Class 6), Sanjana Kumari (8), and Ritesh Yadav (6) — were sitting on iron benches inside their classrooms and were injured. All were students of UKG to standard six, officials said.
All of them were taken to the Markaccho community health centre (CHC). Dr Pradeep Baitha, medical officer at the CHC, said the students were admitted around noon and treated for electrical shock injuries. "Thankfully, their condition was stable, and all were discharged after treatment," he said.
The incident has highlighted severe safety lapses at the institution. The school was reportedly operating without a UDISE code — a mandatory registration number required by the state department for school education and literacy. It also lacked a lightning conductor and did not comply with govt safety norms.